Stories And Tales From Dimension 63
by Omega Ultra
Summary: After failing to return home in time, Lincoln Loud ends up in a dimension similar to his own... though it does have a few "minor" differences. Follow Lincoln as he tries to live his new life while searching for a way home. Yet, when dealing with ten brothers, that may be easier said than done. A collection of inter-connected short stories following the Genderbent Loud House.
1. Welcome To Dimension 63

**A/N Well guys, I saw "One Of The Boys" on Monday and thought,** _ **"Hey I wonder what would happen if R63 Lincoln was real?"**_ **So I thought about the concept and decided that since I'm writing more often, I'd take a shot at a one-shot collection.**

 **I thank Exotos135 (Chaoticson on DeviantArt) for the cover art!**

 **I hope you enjoy! R &R**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: What happens when you mix two boys who love acting like dogs and a girl who has to deliver something?**_

Story One: Welcome to Dimension 63

"Be careful what you wish for, because you may as well get it." It's a famous phrase, usually taught by random daytime and children's television. If only Lincoln Loud had remembered, then maybe he wouldn't be in this situation right now. Though, now that I think of it, I suppose it was for the best that he had seen life on the other side of things.

"Phew, what a close one." Lincoln Loud declares as he sets the dimensional watch for "Home Dimension: C-137."

This was it, after almost twenty-four hours of experiencing another dimension, Lincoln stood before the portal that would take him back home. With mere seconds left, he breathes a sigh of relief, before stepping through the portal, albeit with his pants down. You can blame Lynn for that.

Immediately, Lincoln finds himself floating in inter-dimensional space, the massive blur of colors and patterns that define the entire multiverse. Even Lincoln can't help but smile at the sight, "Wow, if I weren't trying to get home, this place would be perfect to have a party in."

Then, with his eyes filling with determination, he looks ahead. "There it is, my portal." And with that, he makes his way to the vortex.

At this point he thinks, _"I'm in the clear! Nothing can stop me how!"_ then he chuckles, _"Time to go home…"_ His face goes flush from embarrassment, _"That sausage fest was way more painful than I expected… For reasons other than what most would expect."_

Since he was young, he had always thought of what it would be like to have ten brothers, and after this adventure, he realized that he preferred having sisters more.

"I can't wait to get home and tell Lisa what happened! She'll probably want to write it all down for science and stuff." He chuckles, before looking down and checking the watch, _"According to this, I'm almost to my portal."_

Yet, fate has different plans in store for him.

Without warning, the watch goes off with, _**"Warning, unstable portal opening. Warning, dimensional anomaly present! Warning, incoming!"**_ Immediately another portal opens up and from it, another Lincoln comes flying out, almost as if he were kicked out and catapulted away.

"What the?" Is all the first Lincoln can say, before he is knocked away from his portal and is sent into a nearby pink and white vortex.

Seconds later, he throws himself up, taking deep breaths to calm himself down, "Phew." He goes, "For a second I thought that…" He wipes the sweat from his brow, only for his hand to get caught on his hair clip.

Wait… hair clip?

"What the… why am I wearing a hair clip?!" Lincoln whispers with a confused tone. He carefully runs his hand down his now longer hair, "Why is my hair suddenly this long…" Panic begins to fill his voice, "Oh no…"

His eyes go wide in fear and realization, "That guy sent me into the wrong portal!" He then jumps out of his bed and frantically turns the lights on, revealing the room to be painted pink, and decorated with random boy bands, girl games, plenty of flowers and hearts, some random photos and surprisingly enough some Ace Savvy merchandise.

"This can't be real." He whispers, before turning to his dresser.

He looks at his mirror, his hair, while it remained snow white, was much longer. He wore an orange blouse instead of his orange polo and a blue skirt in place of his pants. His eyelashes were much longer and he had an orange hairclip holding some of his long locks in place, as well as securing his unique tuff of hair. "Oh no!" he says louder, before slapping his cheeks and whispering, "I'm on the wrong dimension!"

And without any other way to voice his anxiety, he throws his arms down and screams.

Within seconds, ten boys burst into the room, with the oldest shouting, "Linka! Are you ok?!"

A beat of silence passes with Linka staring at her brothers… before promptly passing out.

This bodes well I assume.

 _A few hours later…_

"Ugh…" Linka goes, the boy-turned-girl slowly pulling herself out of her bed. She slowly inspects herself, unsure of whether or not what she was seeing was real. She quietly turns and stands up in her own two feet. "But how… I was so close to the portal…"

Then, her eyes fill with rage, "That idiot!" She quietly steps over to her door, and does her best to quietly open it. Luckily enough, the knob doesn't break apart like it usually would.

She peaks out into the hallway, and searches for any sign of the ten boys. "Ok..." She then closes the door and sighs, "Well this is just great. I'm in a dimension where everything's swapped. I have ten brothers instead of sisters, and somehow now I'm now a girl."

She then turns and plops facedown on the bed.

"Morning Linka!" a tall boy walks into her room. He wears a blue tank top with brown shorts and blue shoes, "You scared us all last night. Ya know, with the random screaming and panic attack."

Linka blushes with embarrassment, "Oh, sorry Loki, thanks for checking up on me." Before turning and standing up her own feet.

"Yeah, we were so worried." Another boy appears; he's slightly younger than Linka with short hair that covers his eyes.

As expected, Lars's sudden appearance spooks the two, causing them to jump back in fear. "Would you mind talking about what got you so spooked last night? It could make the basis for a good story." He continues in his distinct monotone voice.

Then, a boy wearing a white lab coat, green gloves and brown pants walks in. He carries an odd device, with a battery on his side and two paddles. "Oh Linka, you're all right." He says, "I guess I won't need to use my defibrillator on you after all."

"Put it away Levi," Another boy steps in wearing a white button down shirt, yellow suspenders and socks and carrying a female dummy on his arm, "What she needs is so laughs from Mrs. Coconuts!"

The dummy turns to him and says, "You got it Lane!"

Another boy walks over, this one wearing a light-green shirt, flat-toped sunglasses, and brown pants… and he walks straight into the doorframe, eliciting a slight laugh from Linka, "Haha, that was funny Loni."

"It's great that you're ok Linka!" He responds.

"Coming through!" Another shouts as a hockey punk comes flying passed the brothers and out the window, missing Linka by mere inches.

Linka's brothers immediately turn, their fury burning in their eyes.

"What?" He throws his arms up in surprise, allowing his white shirt with red highlights and a zero on it, to become visible.

"Lynn! You almost hit Linka!" Another brother walks up from behind, he wears a purple vest with a slightly lighter shirt underneath, and black pants.

"Aww, Luke, you know it wouldn't have hit her!"

"Still." He responds with a strong voice. "It's better to be safe than sorry." Then he looks at his only sister, "especially after what happened last night bro."

Lynn rubs the back of his head in embarrassment and regret, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Linka!" The twins work their way through the growing crowd of their siblings. The first wears a white shirt and pink scarf." You're all right?!"

Linka nods, "Yeah Lexx."

Than her other brother cuts in, he wears simple dark blue overalls with nothing underneath... Well actually I'm not sure about that, but I'm not checking under those. "Mind telling us what happened last night?"

Linka gets up and sits down on her bed with the crowd of her brothers looming. "I'm not really sure what happened Leif..."

Loki grabs Bun Bun off the nearby shelf, "here, Linka, how about you tell us why?"

The girl takes the doll in her hands and nods, "ok..."

" _Think of a good lie Lincoln!"_ Linka thinks, " _You can't tell them that you're not their Linka, they'll panic!"_

"I just had a dream where Levi made me a watch and sent me to a dimension where I was a boy." Then she looks up at her brothers, "But after having some fun, I found out that none of them really cared about me and ended up kicking my butt."

Then she thinks again, _"The watch! That's it! Maybe I can use it to get home!"_ Then she finishes, "So I got the watch back, but ended up flying into the wrong portal..."

"Heh, weird dream." Lars responds, "Sounds like the start to a story collection where the main character has to hide the truth from their comrades while trying to find a way back home."

Linka looks down fearfully.

Yet, Loki puts on a sympathetic smile and sits down next to her. "Don't worry Linka, we love you. We'd never treat you like that."

Then, he places his arm around her comfortingly, "After all, your our only sister. Boy or girl, we'd never mistreat you."

A few moments of tense silence passes between the siblings.

"You know, you're not the only one who had a weird dream last night." Lane says, causing Linka to smile in relief.

"Really Lane?" Linka asks with a hopeful tone, before the boy responds using the dummy, "Yeah! He dreamed that he was dummy and I was the man!"

"Yeah it was absolutely hilarious!"

Linka chuckles at such a horrible joke.

Before Leif continues, "if you think that's weird, you've got some competition!"

And with that each of the brothers reveal their weird dreams to Linka, putting her at ease.

Finally, after all of the sibling's finish their stories, Loki asks, "So Linka, feel better?"

The girl nods, "Thanks guys."

Then he pats her on the back, "haha, now come on, let's get some breakfast."

She nods, and with that the ten boys and one girl get one big claustrophobic hug, before finally heading downstairs.

* * *

Linka scans her surroundings carefully, making sure that everything was in the right place.

She steps into the living room with a sigh, before thinking, "I know this isn't my home..."

"You ok sis?" Luke asks, and the girl nods, "Yeah, I'm fine."

He nods and Loki comes down after, "You know sis, if you need anything, I'm here for you."

Linka nods, "Thanks bro." Then they both motion for her to join them for breakfast.

"Morning kids!" Their mother greets, before serving the kids their food- some bacon and eggs.

The Loud boys chomped down their food quickly, while Linka joined them without hesitation, much to her parent's dismay.

"Oh Linka," her father says, catching the young woman's attention, "I heard there was an opening for a delivery girl, maybe you could do that to, ya know, make some good cash on the side." Then, Lynn Sr.'s eyes look at his sons, "And maybe help you find some other girl friends."

" _Should I? After all this isn't my own dimension..."_ Linka thinks for a moment, before she realizes what he was implying, _"Wait… I don't have friends here?"_ Then she sighs, "Sure dad."

"Great! Mr. Fumpterfumpter is excited to meet you." Then he hands the girl a slip of paper with an address as well as a phone number on it. "Call him after breakfast and if they tell you that the opening hasn't been filled yet head over to his office, he'll get you set up."

"Ok, thanks dad!" Linka responds with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

And so after breakfast she made a phone call and left the home for the day.

A few minutes later, she stands in front of the Royal Woods Register, the town's local newspaper shop and service. The building was rather plain, only consisting of a blocky brick building labeled as such.

The help wanted sign in the window confirmed that her trip hasn't been for naught.

So, Linka takes a deep breath before stepping inside the office. She approaches the rather old lady sitting at the front desk and greets, "Hi."

The old lady takes a look at the young girl, before responding, "Hello, are you here for the job?"

Linka nods, "Yeah. Is it still open?"

She nods, before motioning towards a door labeled, "Manager's office." The old woman then meekly says, "In there is Mr. Fumpterfumpter."

"Thanks!" Linka responds, before making her way to the door. A few minutes later, Linka walks back into the Loud House carrying a blue bag, decorated with a Pegasus following an envelope, as well as a blue hat decorated with wings.

"Hey guys, I'm home!" She declares. "Hey Link, did you get the job?" Loki carefully asks as he steps toward her.

Linka nods, "Yeah, turns out that I was the only one who showed any interest in the job and they really needed the replacement." While thinking, _"That, and apparently Fumpter owed dad some stuff."_

Loki chuckles. "Cool."

"Do I smell a mailman?!" Leif shouts as he rushes into the room. Immediately Loki responds by shoving Linka into the next room. The boy continues in a serious, hunter-like tone, "No, I smell a newspaper delivery guy!" Then he turns to Loki, "You see anything?"

"Nope! No mailman or newspapers here!" He casually responds.

Leif looks him suspiciously, before jumping on the older boy and smelling him, "you were around one though... I can smell it!"

Then Leif jumps off his brother, before sniffing the ground and climbing up the stairs on all fours.

"Loki, what was that for?" The girl responds as she steps out of the kitchen, rubbing her head as she does so.

"Sorry Linka." Loki responds, "Leif was here and did you forget what happens to mailmen around him and Lynn and?"

"No, please remind me." She responds tiredly.

"Remember, those two get a little rough with them." Loki awkwardly responds, much to Linka's dismay.

So she tilts her head in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Just remember what dogs do to mailmen, they might do to you, if you're not careful. They get mindless, so I doubt reasoning will help you." Then Loki pulls out his phone and starts texting his girlfriend, "Good luck Linka."

Linka takes a big gulp, before nodding and heading up to her room.

She drops the bag on the floor, and walks over to the waiting wallow talkie. "Dang it..." She whispers, "I don't know her name, but if I'm going to deliver these papers in one piece, I'll need her help."

"Hey, it's Linka." I say into the small device, "Do you copy?"

"Copy that Linka, Claudia's here." Linka's best friend responds with excitement in her voice, "Claudia, I have a job and I need some help with it."

"Yeah?"

Linka thinks for a moment, "I'm going to be delivering newspapers in the morning and I need you to distract my brothers long enough so I can get passed. My brother Leif and Lynn are really violent towards mailmen. If I don't get every newspaper delivered and get back to the depot in time, I'll get fired!"

"So why don't you just tell them that you're on duty?" Claudia curiously asks, "After all, they are your brothers."

"Apparently, according to Loki, they go fully mindless." Linka responds with a defeated tone, "Even if I did tell them, they'd still lose control.

"Ok!" She responds, "So what's the plan Link?"

Linka thinks for a moment, "Ok so what I need you to do is this…"

Within moments, the plan was set. With nothing else in mind, Linka jumps in her bed and sleeps the night away.

* * *

The next morning, Linka wakes up at 6:30 with, "Ok, time to deliver the papers."

She gazes out her window with warm eyes and sighs, _"Great, I'm still here… I wonder if I'll ever get home…"_ Then she gets out of bed and quietly opens her door, _"Good, none of the boys are awake yet."_

She silently tips toes over to the bathroom and gets ready for her. Starting with, _"Ok Lincoln… this is the first time you've actually tried to take a shower like this. How hard can it be? You've seen your sisters do it countless times!"_

Linka than pulls off her night gown and undoes her hair clip. She strips down completely, before looking at herself in the mirror, _"Huh… now that I think of it, I look pretty hot as a girl."_

Then she gets in the shower and cleans herself off.

After that she silently goes back in her room and prepares. She puts on a new orange blouse and blue skirt, as well as replacing the orange hairpin with a small orange bow.

She then takes her mailbag and folds it up, before shoving it in her backpack, and doing the same with her mail hat. _"Ok, now the only thing I have to worry about is getting out of here in one piece."_

Then, she turns and grabs the walkie talkie on her dresser, "Claudia, are you ready for operation, "Avoid Lynn and Leif while I desperately try to deliver these news papers on time and come up with a shorter name for this operation?"

"Yeah Link, I'm outside right now."

Linka then turns once more and opens up her own door… revealing Lynn and Leif waiting for her.

"Oh, hey guys, whatcha doin?" she nervously asks

Lynn responds, "We smelled newspapers and mailmen!"

Leif continues by barking, "And we wanna go get em!"

The girl's face goes red in fear, before she walks passed the duo and responds without breaking eye contact, "Nope! None of that there!" And before they can probe her further, she's down the stairs and out the door.

"Ok Claudia." She says, "You know what to do."

Claudia nods, before watching Linka run off, and turning to face the Loud House door. With a single sigh she opens it and enters the room, where Leif and Lynn are waiting for her.

The duo looks at her for a short moment, before two devious smiles appear on their faces. Together they both shout, "Mailman!"

Claudia gulps in fear, before making a break out of the yard. Leif and Lynn look at each other for a short moment, before chasing after her on all fours.

"Crud…" Loki declares as he sticks his head out the door. Seven other Loud Brothers follow, "What's going on Loki?" Lexx asks.

"Lynn and Leif just ran after Claudia, and might attack Linka!" Loki frantically responds, "Guys, we have to help them!"

The boys nod, before running out the door as well.

It looks like Claudia is going to have a great time dealing with those two.

Meanwhile, Linka picked up her batch of newspapers and hopped on her bike. _"Ok Lincoln, you're a newspaper delivery girl."_ Then she sighs, _"Claudia will be fine."_

She then secures the mailbag to her side, before adjusting her hat and riding out of the newspaper depot.

"Ok." She whispers as she reads out the list of properties to get to. "Let's do this." And with that, she peddles into the early morning.

The first challenge she faces are the random, unkempt roads on the inner parts of Royal woods. She does her best to dodge the several potholes lining her path... only for her front wheel, to get caught on a sidewalk edge, causing her to lose control of the bike and fall into some nearby mud.

"Well this is just great." She mutters, before dusting herself off and getting back on the bike and riding off into the neighborhoods. "Ok, let's start here." She declares before riding down a random block and systematically delivering newspapers to each and every house on the list… which just so happened to be all of them.

She did the same with the next few blocks, before rushing over to her next challenge, climbing the hill.

" _Man, this is going to be hard."_ She thinks while checking her remaining cargo, _"I've got twenty five more papers to deliver, let's do this."_ And with that, she peddles her way up the hill.

By the time she reaches the top, she breathes heavily and tiredly. Her long white hair is dirtied with mud, while she sweats from exhaustion.

She throws the newspapers at the houses, before taking another breathe, "Ok, just ten more to deliver."

" _Ok, no wonder my sisters hate it when I got dirt in their hair!"_ She thinks as she dusts herself off and attempts to pull the mud out of her white hair, _"This stuff is impossible to clean!"_

And with that, she hopes on her bike once more, before rolling down the hill towards the last few houses.

" _I'm in the clear! Thanks to Claudia, I was able to get all of the papers delivered!"_

A few minutes later, she reaches the bottom of the hill and skids to a halt. She quickly checks her cargo, only for Claudia to approach her with, "Linka! Help!" Then the girl jumps on the bike.

"Caludia? What's going on… Oh no." Linka goes as she watches her two brothers charging at them shouting, "Get the mailwomen!"

Immediately, Linka hits her pedals and does her best to get away from her brothers, but to no avail.

Luckily for her, her other seven brothers manage to reach the duo. "Hey Leif, Lynn! Stop it!" Loki commands, causing the two wolf-boys to stop for a short moment, "Linka, get away!"

The girl nods, before peddling away as fast as she can.

"Guys, what the heck is wrong with you two?!" Luke asks with an annoyed tone.

Leif responds, "We like getting the mailman!" Lynn continues, "Yeah, it's funny when they run away in fear."

Then the younger boy rubs the back of his head, "Plus, we've done this ever since Levi blasted us with some random ray gun."

Loki glares at the four-year-old, before Leif turns to him and asks, "What was in that thing anyway?"

Levi shrugs, "Not sure, but hey at least nothing bad happened."

"Seriously Levi!" Loki responds, before pointing at empty space, "Our sister is trying to succeed at her first job, and these two acting like dogs and attacking her isn't helping!"

"Umm what are you pointing at?" Lexx asks quizzically.

Loki turns and watches the duo runs away, after their sister and her friend. "Guys! We have to stop them!" Loki commands, and immediately, the seven brothers put on their game faces.

Back with Linka and Claudia, the black girl shouted, "They're back and they're gaining on us!"

Well, they would be gaining on the girls if a squirrel didn't catch their eyes. They make a quick detour to hunt down the poor animal, much to the girl's relief.

"Phew." Linka goes, "We have a few minutes to get away before those squirrels bore them." Then she turns back to face her, "So where to Claudia?!"

"Not sure!" The riding girl responds, "but it has to be somewhere where we can dodge them," then she looks back. In the distance she can see the two boys scanning the area, as if preparing to chase after them again, "Or better yet, get them off our tail!"

That's when an idea comes to Linka, "Ok I know just the place!" Then she peddles as hard as she can, "Hold on tight!"

A few minutes later, the duo banks right into the Royal Woods mall, with the brothers in hot pursuit.

"Do those two ever give up?!" Claudia desperately asks.

"They're Loud boys Claudia, and they really want to get us!" Then she quickly swerves through the crowd in a desperate bid to escape.

The girls swerve and speed through the mall… only to crash into a black-haired boy wearing blue pants and a purple hoodie.

"Ouch! Watch wear you're going!" The boy shouts, as he rubs his head and looks upon the two girls, "Oh, hi Lame-O, watcha' doin?"

"I'm running from my brothers! They think we're mail women and want to get us!"

The boy looks at them, as she was crazy for a moment, before sighing, "You owe me one Linka. I'll do my best to hold them off." Then he brings the bike back up and continues, "There's an exit in The Really Big Textbook Store."

A beat passes.

"Plus, if you need something to defend yourself with, you've got really big textbooks within arm's reach!"

Linka and Claudia both nod before riding away.

Then, the boy turns to the oncoming brothers and charges.

He's probably going to feel that in the morning… if he survives.

Within minutes the two are back on their sister and her friend's tails.

The white-haired girl swerves around the winding aisles and passed the random piles of oversized books. Yet, evasive maneuvers only seem to strengthen their resolve.

"Claudia!" Linka commands, "Throw the books at them!"

Claudia complies and starts hurling the books at them as well as she could, not that it helped much. Why you ask? Because Physics.

Oddly enough, Linka feels an extra weight in her bag as they come out the aisle's end. And the store's alarms go off as the rush out the back exit.

And just in time too, because just as they successfully ride out, the other brothers sprig a trap on Leif and Lynn, capturing them in nylon net.

The duo struggle to break free of their improvised prison, but to no avail.

"So, you guys good?" Loki asks as he approaches the nets, with Levi walking up as well and firing a ray at them.

"There." The boy declares, "They should be back to normal. Let them down."

Leif and Lynn groan for a moment, before rubbing their heads. "What happened?" Leif groans, while Lynn continues, "And why am I craving a meatball sub now?"

"You chased after Linka because you two thought she was a mailman!" Lexx shouts, "What do you two have to say for yourselves?!"

"I don't know..." Lynn responds, "Everything's a blur after this morning."

Levi takes out a notebook and whispers, "Interesting, subjects show anterograde amnesia after being exposed to the effects of the ray gun."

Loki then turns to Linka and gives a thumb's up. "You're in the clear!"

"Thanks guys!" She responds... Only for both her and Claudia to tip over and fall in the mud at the parking lot's edge, scattering the newspapers.

"Linka!" The boys shout as they rush over the girls.

Predictably, the moment Claudia sees Loki, she goes full robot and faints.

"I'm ok..." She assures, "But I won't be able to finish my route on time..."

Loki smiles, "Yes you will!"

The young girl looks up at her brother, "But how? I've only got ten minutes to hit the last ten houses, and they're all over town!"

Loki turns to Lynn and Leif, "Remember the Milwaukee Mile Run?"

They both nod.

"We're pulling that again, only this time we're all doing it." Then he helps Linka up and gives her the bike, "You take the furthest, since you've got the bike."

Then he grabs a paper off the ground, "Luke, grab Claudia." Then he commands, "Each of you, take a house, we'll regroup at home."

The boys nod, bringing tears of joy to their sister's face, "Thanks you guys!" Then she secures her slightly heavy bag to her back.

"No prob sis." Luke responds, "We want to make sure you keep this job."

Lynn continues, "Yeah, it's the least we can do after... Ya know, chasing you all over town."

"Yeah, sorry about that by the way." Leif remorseful let says as he grabs one as well.

And with that, the siblings rush to their destinations without delay.

 _A few hours later…_

Linka tiredly walks into the Loud House with, "Hey guys, I'm home!"

Immediately, the ten brothers rush over and embrace their muddy sister.

"So how was it Link?!" Leif asks.

"Was it, Linktastic?!" Lane goes.

"So did you keep the job?" Loni asks.

"Yep! Thanks to you guys, the papers were delivered on time and I kept the job!" Then she pulls a calendar out of her bag's pocket, "I have another route next week!"

So after some more celebrating and enjoyment, the siblings break off for the night, with Linka walking into her room and tiredly dropping on the bed.

"Heh," she whispers, "what a day. I guess having ten brothers isn't all that bad... As long as I'm a girl."

Then she chuckles, "To think, I'm actually enjoying being in the wrong dimension... Maybe I'll stay a little while."

She then stands up and stretches, before dropping her bag with a loud plop.

" _Weird_... _What's in my bag?_ " She quietly inspects her bag and pulls out a rather large textbook titled, "Principle Theory of Quantum Mechanics and the Many Worlds Interpretation."

Linka hesitates for a moment, before sighing in realization. It was almost like a man was pulling the strings for her, pushing for her to work her way home, "But no matter how much I may like it here, I know that this isn't my home. My sisters probably miss me." Then, she looks out into the starry sky, "And if I'm going to be honest, I miss them too."

So she grabs her loofa and bathing supplies and makes over to the unoccupied bathroom. A look of resolve forming on her face, _"One day, I will get home."_

After that, she takes a shower, and though she does struggle to clean the mud from her white hair, she eventually manages and spends that night reading her new book.

I have a feeling that this is the start of an odyssey.

9-6 25-15-21 6-9-7-21-18-5-4 15-21-20 20-8-9-19 3-15-4-5, , 3-15-13-13-5-14-20 "4-9-13-5-14-19-9-15-14 19-9-24-20-25 20-8-18-5-5 9-19 1-23-5-19-15-13-5!"

15-4-25-19-19-5-21-19 9-19 7-15-9-14-7 20-15 8-1-22-5 1 6-9-5-12-4 4-1-25.

 **A/N So how was that? As always, like, comment and follow if you wish to see more. Also, feel free to send in one-shot ideas you'd like to see featured in this!**

 **Also, someone asked for this, here's a list of the characters and their gender bent counterparts.**

 **Lincoln = Linka  
Lori = Loki  
Leni = Loni  
Luna = Luke  
Luan = Lane  
Lynn = Lynn  
Lucy = Lars  
Lana = Leif  
Lola = Lexx  
Lisa = Levi  
Lily = Leon  
Ronnie Anne = Ron Andy  
Clyde = Claudia  
Cristina = Christopher**


	2. Princess Dreams

**A/N Wow, 13 review, 25 faves and follows, and over a thousand view in just two days?! You guys really seem to like this story, thank you! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the second story! R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: What happens when Lexx asks his siblings to star in a play with him? (Requested by Exotos135)**_

Story Two: Princess Dreams

"How to put a scientist to sleep one-O-one." The young girl quips, before dropping her oversized textbook on the floor; luckily for her, the carpet's padding is more than enough to muffle the sound.

*Yawn* She goes as she looks out at her rounded window longing, out into the night sky. _"I wonder how my sisters are doing… if they even know I'm gone."_ For a moment Linka thinks of crying, humming or doing anything that could possibly let her vent the soft emotions she felt.

Soft emotions that hit her like wrecking balls.

With a sigh she turns and stands up on her own two feet. _"Maybe I just need something to drink. Maybe then I'll be able to figure out what to do about my current problems."_

And with that, she turns and opens her room's door, before quietly stepping out, into the quiet nighttime hallway… quiet, save for the piercing snoring of the Loud Boys.

Linka can't help but put on a nostalgic smile, _"Even here, my siblings can't help but be as Loud as they can in their sleep."_ Then she chuckles at the realization that they seem to be snoring louder, _"Haha, it's like they're having a nighttime contest over who can snore the loudest."_

The young girl climbs down the old wooden stairs carefully; weary not to step too hard, lest she accidently fall through. After all, she's in another dimension, who knows what would happen on a surprise trip to the ER.

With another turn, she silently walks into the messy kitchen, no doubt it would be messier if the Louds didn't have a young girl to encourage them to at try to do parts of their chores.

She quietly opens the fridge door and pulls out one of the waiting bottles of water with a sigh, _"It's been two days, and so far I've gotten a job and managed to get attacked by two of my new brothers."_ The young girl takes a seat at the adult table while she drinks the cold liquid, _"Well… at least it could be worse. After all, at least these guys care about me. Way more than those Lynn clones…"_

Then Linka sighs, _"Just like them…_ " She caps off her water bottle before yawning once more, "Well, I guess it's time to hit the hay, after all, I just tried to stupid quantum mechanics… and now I have more questions than answers."

Her mind wanders for a moment, before she looks at the grey wristwatch that started this whole mess. It's timer continues to beep 00:00 while displaying, _**"Current Dimension- 63i'\"**_

And with that she steps towards the doorway that would lead her out of the kitchen and let her get up to her room… Only for a barrier to stop her.

"What the…" She whispers as she tries pushing through the invisible wall, "What's going on here?!"

"I believe I can answer that." A deep, masculine voice answers.

Immediately, Linka turns around to face the source.

"Hello Lincoln." The man politely greets, his voice filled with respect while his demeanor gives off a calm tone. He wears a jet-black suit with a white button-down under it. A dark red tie pulled tightly around his neck gives him an air of seriousness, white the black top hat with a matching stripe above the brim makes him seem like he has come for some business.

The young girl shouts in fear, "Who are you?! What's going on?!"

"Calm down young one." The man responds, before stepping closer, allowing the young girl to get a better view of his face. He has a scruffy white beard and dark brown eyes, as well as like skin, similar to the girl's. "I am here on business, and mean you no harm."

Then, he offers his hand to her.

For a moment, Linka hesitates, with thousands of thoughts racing through her young mind. Yet, she places her hand in his.

With that, the old man kneels down to her and gazes into her eyes, "My name is William, and only together can we prevent the destruction of your world."

"Wait… the destruction of my world? What's going on?!"

Without another word, William hands the young girl a carnation, before standing up and walking away. Linka desperately tries to follow, yet it seems as if the invisible barrier had moved and held her in place.

After that, the world seems to disintegrate, much to Linka's dismay. After a few short moments, the floor under her disappears, and she feels herself falling.

* * *

"Uff!" Linka groans as she pulls her head from the oversized physics textbook. She immediately scans her surroundings as well as herself, making sure that everything was still in the right place. She gazes out the window and into the morning sky, its clear blue offering some solace to the young girl.

"Phew." She goes, her relief obvious, "That was just a dream…" For a moment she thinks, as if unsure of whether or not to believe her own thoughts. "But it felt so real… Who's this William guy? And what did he mean by, 'prevent the destruction of our world'?"

Yet, Linka's just a human. So she gives a defeated sigh, before getting off the carpeted floor, closing her oversized textbook and lazily throwing it on her dresser.

Then, just as Linka's about to step out of her room, Lexx bursts through her door with, "Mornin' Linka!"

The startled girl stumbles back and falls onto the wall behind her. It takes her a short moment to snap out of her thoughts and respond, "Oh, hey Lexx, good morning to you too."

"How would you like to be the star in a play?!" Lexx asks, his excitement beaming.

"Umm… I might enjoy it?" Linka nervously responds, "Why you ask?"

Without another word, Lexx bolts into his room, before running out carrying a rather large, frilly, pink, princess dress. "The school's hosting a contest to see who can make the best play and perform it!"

Linka tilts her head.

"And well…" Lexx's voice trails off in embarrassment.

"Yeah?"

Lexx takes a breath, "You're the only girl I know who can help me! Please be the princess!" And with that he puts on the cutest puppy eyes he can muster, "Can you please do it Linka?! I need someone who knows how to play a strong, independent, teenage damsel in distress!"

"Why don't you just get…" Linka thinks for a moment, _"Oh wait… That's right… I'm the only girl out of eleven children…"_

"Who Linka?!" Lexx desperately asks, "You're the only girl I know enough to ask!" Then he whispers, "Or at least one who would be willing to play princess…"

For a short moment Linka considers doing it for her brother, but instead she just shakes her head and repeats, "No, I am not getting in a dress and acting in some play!"

The young boy starts to tear up, as if his dreams of making it to Broadway had been thrown into an incinerator.

Linka sighs, before squatting down to the boy's eye level, "Look, Lexx, I know you want me to be the princess for you, but I've got stuff I need to do. And you know how I don't like frilly dresses much."

With downcast eyes, the young boy nods, "Ok Linka, I'll try to find someone else."

" _Huh, that was easy."_ Linka thinks as she stands back up and walks passed her young brother. _"Lola definitely would've tried something to get my attention and force me to follow along with her plans!"_

It's a shame that she doesn't hear him whisper, "Well Linka, if you won't be the princess willingly, then I'll have to make you be it."

* * *

"So how were your days kids?" Lynn Sr. asks, his voice booming with excitement, before he turns to his lone daughter, "And how was your first day on the job Linka? I heard you had some chase on the job!"

"Good one dad!" Lane cheers.

Instead of responding, Linka just continues to move her food around her plate, as if unsure of what to do next.

"Linka!"

"Wha?" She responds with surprise in her voice.

"You've barely touched your food." Her mother worriedly goes, "Is something wrong dear?"

Linka's face goes red with embarrassment, before she awkwardly rubs the back of her head, "Nope! Everything's A-OK!"

Then she looks back down at her food, a simple order of bacon and eggs. _"Yeah, everything's just fine. I'm just in another dimension and now a random man is telling me that the world is apparently on the verge of disaster. And I still don't know how to get home. But other than that, everything's just peachy!"_

And with that, she starts eating, though this time with manners she had learned from her sisters, much to her parent's relief.

She takes a few quick bites of her food, before saying, "Awesome! Thanks mom!" picking up her plate and walking into the nearby kitchen.

As she passes the child table, she notices her five younger siblings sitting quietly… no food fight or mess either, it seems as if they had been perfectly well behaved the whole meal!

" _Weird."_ Linka thinks as she places her plate in the sink and walks passed once again, before walking back up to her room.

She quietly shuts her room door and leans up against it, before sliding down and curling up at its base _. "Why does none of this stuff make sense? What's going on around here?"_

Then she looks up at the textbook that would make most college students cringe in pain, " _And while I'm doing my best to get these concepts, this stuff just doesn't seem to click with me."_ Then she sighs, before standing up, _"Maybe I just need to relax and think. After all, I haven't stopped thinking of how I'm going to get home."_

"Ok." She says aloud, "If Linka is just a girl version of me, then I should have a comic book collection!" Then he scans his room, "But where would I put it?" He snaps his fingers in realization, before jumping on his bed and looking on the shelf.

"Score!" He whispers, before grabbing the lone, dusty comic from under the doll and falling back onto his bed.

"Time to get comfortable!" She declares, before undressing, leaving everything but her underwear on, with the rest of her clothing littering the floor.

And with that, she blows the dust from the cover.

Her eyes go wide with surprise when she realizes what she's holding, "Whoa! A First Edition, Mega Ulti-Meta Series, Ace Savvy Comic?!" she carefully feels the soft paper pages, as if trying to make sure that he wasn't dreaming, "Only a thousand of these were ever made! And they were only given as a prize for winning a card game tournament!"

"I can't believe I have it here!" She quietly declares, before opening the front cover and beginning to read the comic… only for a question to pop into her mind, "Wait, this is the only comic I have here… why?"

Immediately, Lexx bursts into the young girl's room. He crawls on his knees while he uses his hands and closed eyes to beg the young girl, "Please Linka! I need a princess! Please, please, please!"

"No." Linka flatly responds.

Lexx opens his eyes in disappointment, before jumping up on his feet and shouting, "Ooo! You're reading comics in your underwear again!" Then he turns around, before bolting out the girl's room, "I'm telling mom!"

" _Quick Lincoln! Think fast!"_

"Wait Lexx!" Linka desperately responds, causing the young boy to stop. He looks at her with begging eyes, as if hoping for what he knows would come.

So, with a sigh and a defeated tone, Linka responds, "If you don't tell mom, I'll be the princess in your play."

Lexx's young eyes fill with joy, before he runs over and embraces his older sister, "Thanks Linka! You're the best!" Then, he bolts back into his room and brings her the princess dress as well as a copy of the play itself. "Practice is tonight in the backyard! Don't be late Linka!"

And with that, the young boy runs out of his sister's room, his excitement glowing on his young face.

"Well… that explains the one comic…" Linka quietly declares, before redressing herself and hiding the comic once again, _"I guess it's just another reason to try and find my way home."_

" _But first…"_ She thinks, before stepping out of her room once more, _"I'm not going to stop thinking of this dream unless I get someone to interpret it for me. I just hope Lars has that book."_ And with that, she calmly walks over and enters the room of the two middle boys.

Lynn is nowhere in sight, probably having a blast playing a random sport, yet Lars is sitting in his coffin bed, most likely working on another story.

"Hey Lars." Linka nervously greets, "You busy right now?"

Her slightly younger brother looks up and responds, "Hello Linka. I was just writing a story about a boy getting diagnosed with an untreatable disease and his family trying to cope… though I might not write more for it because I saw someone else write them same thing."

"Ok…" Linka awkwardly goes. "Would you mind helping me with something?"

Lars thinks for a moment, before closing his notebook and answering, "Ok, sure. What do you need Linka?"

"Do you have that book on interpreting dreams?"

The Goth boy sighs and answers, "No, Loki borrowed it for his date with Bebe." Hen he shivers, "I hope nothing happens to it, those things are really hard to find."

"Oh…" Linka sadly responds, "Well, would you mind helping me out when you get it back?"

The boy nods, "Sure Linka."

And with that, Linka turns, and begins to step out of the room.

"Oh and Linka." Lars calls out, grabbing the pre-teen's attention, "You're not the only one who's been dragged into Lexx's play. That boy has more dirt on us than we have on anyone else, combined."

"So you heard…" Linka's face goes red with embarrassment.

Lars nods, "Your secret is safe with me." Then he opens up the notebook and begins writing; "Just take it as we're even if you ever find some dirt on me."

Linka nods… but not before noticing the poster behind her brother start to peel, revealing a small rainbow with the words, "My Small Horsie." Written with every color only an art major would notice. "Ok, see ya at the practice then."

And with that, she walks over to her own room, before locking the door this time, undressing and reading her single, ultra-rare comic book.

Later…

"Ok everyone!" Lexx greets, "you all know why you're here, correct?!"

Lynn immediately responds, "Yeah! Because you want us to be in your play and decided to blackmail us into doing it!"

"Yeah, why should we even bother trying to make this any good?" Loki continues for his brother, "After all, it's not like we really need to care about this play."

"Just follow my lead guys! Come on, it'll be fun!" Lexx then pulls out a list and declares, "Ok Loki, I need you to be the king." Then he hands the eldest brother one of his crowns and the young man begrudgingly puts it on.

"Loni, you're the narrator." The second eldest just tilts his head in confusion.

"Luke, you're the dragon." The young man just nods.

"Lane, you're the comedian."

"Lynn you're the dark knight." The athlete fist pumps in agreement, "Sweet!"

"Linka is the princess."

Then he points at his Gothic brother. "Lars, you're the barkeep." Eliciting a, "Sigh." From his slightly older brother.

"Leif is the troll."

Then the young boy motions at himself, "I'm the royal knight."

"And lastly, Levi, you're the mage." Then he hands his younger brother a large tree branch."

The Loud Children start randomly blabbering off while Lexx flips through the play's script, "Ok guys… I need you to…"

A Few Short Minutes Later…

Lexx manages to arrange his family into the first scene, where the princess is supposed to be kidnapped.

"Ok." The young boy goes, before taking a sigh in preparation, "Loni, start narrating!"

"Nar-ating?" The designer rubs his head in confusion, "What's narrating?"

Immediately, Loki walks over and snatches the script from his brother, "Lexx, I'll narrate, you know how Loni is with these things." And with that, he places the crown upon his brother's head. "Loni, just sit in that chair."

"Ok Loki!" He gleefully shouts, before taking a seat next to Linka.

"Once upon-" Loki starts… only for Luke dragon and Leif troll to rush on and tackle both him and Lexx.

"Oof-" Loki groans as he hits the mud, "That was literally unexpected."

"Hey! You got mud all over my costume!"

Luke laughs, "Bro, we're just doing what we do best!"

"Sigh." Lars goes, before walking away, "If I'm unneeded I'll just go back to story writing. Maybe I can write a better play.

"No Lars don't!" Lexx desperately begs, yet to no avail. And Levi walks after him, "If you need me I'll be working with azidoazide azide."

Lynn runs in and tackles Lexx with, "Coming through! The dark knight is here!"

*Groan* Lexx goes in defeat, "Guys, please." He starts, his voice gaining a remorseful pain to it, "Please stop…"

Linka then steps over and looks him in the eyes. Her voice gains a soothing seriousness that only a mother can give, "Maybe if you told us why this play means so much to you, then we might actually take practice seriously."

And so, Lexx pulls himself from the mud and sighs, "Ok guys. I'll tell you why I made you all do this." Then he shoves his hand in his pant's pocket and pulls out his phone. He quickly scrolls through it, careful not to accidently miss what he wants to show, before turning the phone to his siblings, "I like this girl."

Linka takes the phone in her hands for a moment, and just stares into it. The young girl is blonde, with twin pigtails secured by two red bands. She has a light blue shirt as well as blue overalls.

She is the spitting image of Lana.

" _What the heck… Lana?"_ Linka thinks, before handing the phone back to her brother.

"Aww, kid's got a girlfriend!" Luke taunts, before ruffling the boy's hair. Lane then comes on his other side, "You've really got to take an Act-ion at face value!"

"Lay off him guys." Linka says defensively, "He's got a crush."

"Yeah," Loki steps forward, "And besides, who better to help with a relationship than your ten siblings." Loki then squats down to his height, "I'll help ya out. Just literally, don't mention it."

The lone girl squats down next to him, "I'll help too." While she thinks, _"I have to find out if that's Lana… maybe she'll know what's going on."_

Loni puts on the biggest smile he can muster, "I'll help ya too!"

Luke, Lynn and Lane look at each other, before nodding, "We're in."

Leif playfully punches his twin's shoulder, "I'll help ya bro."

Lars and Levi glance at each other, before Levi answers, "Sure, I might be able to study human psychology better this way."

And Lars shrugs, "It's an interesting way to kill time."

"Wow…" Lexx goes, tears starting to form in his eyes, "Thanks you guys!"

"Don't mention it bro." Loki responds, "And don't cry about it."

Lexx nods, before motioning at the script, "Ok then! Let's put on the best family play we can!"

A Few Days Later….

"Places everyone!" Lex orders, his pink knight armor blends almost perfectly with the curtains behind him.

Without the arguing and bickering one would expect from the Louds, the ten children take their places on set.

"Wow..." Linka thinks, "this dress is way more comfortable than I thought it would be." She pulls at her princess dress, its long fabric trails behind her, as she steps into the first scene.

"For Lexx." She whispers, before taking her seat and preparing for the for scene to play out.

"Please welcome our next act! The Loud Family in 'the knight and the dragon' by Lars Loud!"

And with that, the stage hands pull on the large ropes, causing the huge curtains to part; revealing the first scene.

With the stage set, Loki steps forward and addresses the audience with, "Welcome one and all to a tale of those who have stood tall!"

Lexx steps forward and raises his fake toy sword as Loki continues, "His name is Lexington Loud! And his tale is one to be proud!"

He flips his script paper once more, "My name is Loki, and I shall be your narrator this evening! So let us begin in one, two, three!"

He flips the page, "Our story begins on a day like this, with the cool wind blowing through the castle windows.

"Yawn," Linka declares, "Father, it seems as if everything is going to just be typical once again in this kingdom."

Loni nods, and unsurely speaks his lines, "Why of course! It's always peaceful here! Absolutely nothing-"

Before he can finish his sentence, Lynn, dressed up as a dark night, throws a mannequin on stage and runs up to them, "I have come to kidnap the princess!"

"Fear not!" Loni declares, not noticing his kingly garments getting caught on the chair. "I'll save you Princess Linka!" Then, just as he tries jump at him, his clothes causing him to trip and fall forward.

Despite not being part of the script, Lynn thinks fast and takes the chance to run up and grab Linka.

Loki dramatically extends his arm out in desperation, "No! This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"My liege! What just happened?!" Lexx shouts as he runs from stage right over to the young king.

"This wasn't supposed to happen!" He shouts in response. Yet, Lexx just plays along, "Oh no! The princess has been kidnapped!"

Then he turns and raises his sword once more, "I will go and rescue you my fair maiden!" And with that, the young boy rushes off stage.

"And so, the knight set out on his journey." Loki narrates, "The first thing he has to do was assemble his team! And who better to start with, then the comedy relief!"

Lexx steps out of stage right, and with that, Lane, dressed in a jester's outfit steps out stage left.

"Hello town jester, I am going on a magnificent quest to save the princess! I wish for you to join me in my endeavor!"

Lane responds by pulling out a pie and smashing it against him. "Yessire! I'll join ya on your quest!" And though it wasn't planned for, Lexx just wiped it off and continues as if it had not even happened.

"Splendid!" Lexx begrudgingly goes, "Only for Lane to throw some water in his face as well.

"Oh chin up! It'll be a fun adventure!" And together, they walk off.

"Yet, this is still not a well balanced team! So the newfound friends search for the one known as the Mega Magical Magician!" They find him in his hilltop home,

Miles away from the nearest town."

"Hello!" Lexx greets as he walks on stage, "We have come for the magician!"

Levi, dressed in a starry robe responds, "You have found him! State your business!"

"We wish for you to help us fight the dragon and save the princess!"

Levi thinks for a moment and responds, "I shall join you on your quest! If only to gain more materials for my magic!"

"With his allies in tow, the magnificent knight went to the dangerous tower, guarded by the most dangerous dragon ever created." Loki's voice gains a tone of seriousness as he continues, "To rescue the princess and save the world from the tyranny of the dark knight, they had to free her!"

Then, the heroic trio steps forward.

"Oh great heroes! Please save me!" Linka shouts, desperately trying to show fear as a damsel in distress, "The dark knight has taken me and has locked me in this tower!"

"We'll save you princess!" Lexx shouts, his determination beaming in his voice.

Yet, before the warriors can step forward to rescue her, a dragon, or should I say Luke in a dragon costume, steps forward with, "Roar!" then he throws fake balls of fire at them, forcing the trio to retreat.

"We can't save her so long as that dragon is in the way!" Lexx says with a defeated tone, before turning, "If you need me, I'll be sulking."

"And so, defeated, our hero goes to a local pub, in order to relax his nerves."

There was now a bar, with Lars as the tender. He quietly cleans out a mug, with Lexx sitting down and sulking over his defeat.

"What's wrong?" he asks, "It looks like you've lost someone important to you or something like that."

Lexx shakes his head, "No, I was unable to defeat the dragon."

"Interesting." Lars puts away a mug; "There's a legend of a sword capable of defeating any opponent."

"There is?" Lexx asks skeptically.

Lars nods in response, "Yes, it's guarded by a dangerous troll though. So you will need to fight it to get the weapon you seek."

"With mission in hand, the knight found his team members and brought them to the isle of lost tears."

The trio then steps on stage once more, this time with Leif opposing them, "It is there where they are met by the fierce troll."

The four battle, and eventually the trio stands victorious. "With sword in hand and victory certain, they return to the dragon's den."

Then, the three stand before Luke Dragon again. Lexx declares, "Princess! I have come to rescue you!" before pretending to slay the Luke dragon.

"With the dragon defeated, the magnificent Lexx plants his weapon into the ground." And the young boy complies by doing so.

And after planting it in the stage, it resonates for a moment, causing Linka's tower to collapse. Yet, Linka thinks quickly and jumps down the crumbling tower, causing her to land right on top her younger brother.

Immediately, she jumps up and helps Lexx back on his feet.

Loki doesn't stop narrating, "Finally, after saving the princess, the two get married." He narrates in a more upbeat tone as the next scene goes into play, the wedding between the two, "And with this the story ends! They lived happily ever after!"

THe eldest child finishes with, "The knight and princess eventually a son and his story, will come next. Someday."

And with that, the curtains fall upon the stage, leaving people clapping in joy. Heh, I suppose I'd clap too if I haven't seen this happen a thousand times before.

Later That Night…

Lexx bursts through the front door, with the biggest smile he can muster, "She loved the play! She said we could have a date!"

"Congrats bro!" Linka responds.

And with that everyone congratulates the six-year-old before heading upstairs for the night.

"Haha." Linka chuckles as she steps into her room, "What a night. The play went on better than expected." Then she starts changing into her nightclothes, "who knew playing the damsel in distress could be so enjoyable... This guys really care for me..."

Then her eyes fall upon the quantum physics book resting upon her table, before she sighs, "ok, I think I know what I have to do."

And with that, she carefully picks up the book, before stepping over to the nearby bedroom. "Levi."

"What is it sister unit?" The four-year-old asks, "You know I experiment at night."

"Levi… Can you explain what Everett's Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics is?" Linka shows him the page in the textbook trying to explain it in the most confusing way possible, "I was trying to figure it out."

"Simple Linka, Everett's Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics, or better known as the Many Worlds Theory, suggest that reality isn't a line, but more like a tree." Then he adjusts his glasses, "Meaning that there is a possibility that other universes exist, including one where you are a boy and have ten sisters or are a boy with ten brothers."

Her eyes look upon her inactive watch, "Would it be possible for you to make a device that can let us go to other dimensions?"

Levi sighs, "I've tried." Then he motions for the older girl to come in, and she complies. "After you told us about your dream, I became curious about the possibility, so what better way to figure out if it's true than to visit alternate universes?"

"But?"

He types away at his computer, "But for some reason, something's preventing any of my portals from sustaining themselves. Almost like there is an anomaly that the universe is trying to contain."

Linka's heart sinks.

"Though..." Levi continues, causing Linka to perk up. "I have a design for a set of goggles that have the ability to see into alternate universes."

"Really Levi?! Can you make me a set?! I'd love to test them out!"

The young boy nods, "Sure, quantum physics is an interesting subject."

Linka hugs her younger brother, "Thanks Levi!"

And with that, she returns to her room for the night.

No doubt something else will get in her way.

9 4-15-14-'20 20-8-9-14-11 12-1-18-19 8-1-4 1 13-21-19-5 20-15 9-14-19-16-9-18-5 8-9-13… 21-14-12-5-19-19 12-9-14-11-1 3-15-21-14-20-19

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! Feel free to send anymore story prompts you'd like to see!**


	3. The Lemonade War

**A/N Wow, this story has managed to reach 3000 views already! At the rate you guys are going at, this will have the most favorites out of all my stories! (It already has the most follows). I hope you guys enjoy this week's one-shot! This is one of the stories I planned to do when I started this!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: What happens when you mix lemonades, Linka and Ron? A Lemonade War of course!**_

Story Three: The Lemonade War

Crisp morning sunlight filters through the linen closet's rounded window once again, illuminating the makeshift bedroom with its soft glow. The warm rays fall upon the small room's lone occupant, a young girl by the name of Linka Loud.

The young girl's peaceful expression speaks of the hope the young girl feels, after close to a week of randomness that only the Loud boys could provide, it seems that things are finally looking up for her!

Yet, who knows what a new day will bring for our young protagonist? First chased by her brothers, then being "convinced" to help out in a play! It's not hard to wonder what is in store for her next?!

No doubt her brothers would be involved in it though.

Linka Loud rests peacefully in her cozy bed, resting peacefully for the first time in days! No fear, nervousness or regrets to stir her into a restless slumber… Of course, no one can account for her ten noisy brothers.

"Linka!" Levi shouts as he kicks her door open and runs to her side, "Get up! I need your help!" He jumps on her bed and starts shaking her in a desperate attempt to get her out of the bed.

"Ugh" The girl groans, "What's up Levi?" She tiredly opens her eyes, revealing the scientist to be wearing a green shirt and night pants, with bags under his eyes, as if he were awake the entire night.

The young scientist grabs the girl by her shoulders and shakes her, "Come on Linka! Get up! This is important if you want the dimensional goggles to ever be completed, you'll listen carefully and get out of bed!"

"Ugh, the goggles?" Linka tiredly whispers, "What goggles?"

"The goggles you asked me to make for you!" Levi's voice becomes more frustrated and desperate, "I'm on the verge of an amazing scientific discovery and you not getting out of bed isn't helping at all!"

Linka rubs her forehead in confusion, before the realization literally slaps her in the face… in the form of Levi slapping her awake, "Linka! Get up!"

Surprisingly enough, for a four-year-old Levi's slaps actually manage to get Linka to jolt awake and quickly sit up, causing Levi to fall onto the back end of her bed.

"The goggles!" She shouts in surprise, before tiredly rubbing her eyes and turning in her bed, "What about them Levi?" She continues in a calmer tone, "And did it really warrant you waking me up at…" She turns to the clock resting on her wall, "Ten O'clock on a Saturday?"

The scientist nods, before talking in his usual monotone, "Yes Linka, I'm living off an hour of sleep since I've been working on the goggles! I need to take a break, so I'm entrusting them to you for the time being." And with that, he pulls out a set of modified gaming glasses, with random connections and wires shoddily holding the darn thing together.

"Ok Levi…" Linka nervously goes, before the boy pulls back and places his hand in front of her, "There's one more thing Linka."

He takes a deep breath, "I require additional funds in order to complete these goggles. If you acquire them then I'll let you be the first to test out this invention, since you seemed so eager to get them done."

Linka tilts her head in confusion and Levi sighs in response, "I need five hundred dollars to finish the goggles."

"Oh…" the girl goes in response, "Why though? Don't you have your left over grant money?"

Levi rubs the back of his head in embarrassment, breaking his usual stoic behavior, "Let's just say, don't mix cards, a hard light system, two motorbikes and a bet." Then he stands up straight once more and adjusts his glasses, "So what do you say Linka? Will you get me the missing funds to complete the goggles?"

"Can you at least show me what you need before I agree to anything?"

Immediately, the scientist pulls out his phone and shows her the image of a silvery-blue crystal, "This is Pizzazium Infinionite. It's the only thing capable of withstanding what the goggles need to do."

Linka looks at the crystal for a short moment, "Ok then, so if I get you the money, you'll finish the goggles?"

The young boy nods.

"Ok then, so five hundred dollars right?"

He nods again, "Yes." Then he yawns, "You've got three days before the sale ends and the price quintuples, good luck Linka."

"Three days?!" She shouts in surprise, but Levi steps out of the room before she can question him further.

" _Great Lincoln, if you want to see your sisters again you're going to have to find a way to make five hundred dollars in three days_." Linka then turns and plops herself down on her bed, "How the heck am I going to make five hundred dollars in three days?!"

Lexx immediately rushes into the girl's room with, "Linka! Did you say you needed five hundred dollars?!"

Linka turns to her brother with a skeptical look, "Yeah Lexx, what about it."

The boy rushes out of the room and runs back in holding a flier, "There's a beauty pageant tonight sis! And if you win you get five hundred dollars and two Dairyland tickets!"

" _Wow, that was convenient."_ Linka thinks, before turning upright on her bed, "So you want me to go to it and win?"

The actor smiles, "Yep! Come on, it'll be fun Linka!"

" _Well, it's the most convenient way to make that money… Heh, it's a good thing I trained Lola and Lana._ " The girl smiles for a moment, before sighing, _"At least it'll all be worth it after I see my sisters again._ " So she stands up once more and declares, "Ok Lexx, I'll do it."

The boy's smile goes wide as he declares, "Awesome Linka!" Before grabbing her hand, "Now come on! We have to get you ready!" And with that he pulls her into his room.

I wonder how that'll turn out for them.

 _ **A Few Hours Later…**_

The young Linka Loud calmly opens the door to her house, allowing the dimming afternoon sunlight to illuminate her frilly, pink, pageant gown as well as a large pink bag she held in her right hand. If she were in her real home he wouldn't have needed to wear it. _"Note to self Lincoln, never let yourself get talked into this again… and never try to go to alternate realities."_ She thinks, before stepping into the open living room and dropping down on the couch, leaving her bag on the floor next to her.

Immediately, Lexx runs over and jumps to her side with an excited expression, "Well Linka?! How did it go?!"

The girl just grabs her bag and hands it to the young boy. "What the…" he whispers as he opens it and pulls out… a silver second place trophy. "Linka! What happened?!"

"I was so close!" She stands up and shouts in response, before looking away in defeat, "I lost by one single point!"

"In what Linka?" Lexx asks, unsure of why his sister had come in such a place.

"In the talent section, my hand slipped and I fumbled the baton for a moment." She calmly responds, "If it wasn't for that, I'd have one the prize!" Then she sits back down, "Sorry Lexx."

Lexx calmly sits down by his sister, "Don't worry about it sis, there'll be other pageants ya know. Plenty will be giving away Dairyland Tickets too!"

"Heh, yeah…" The girl leans back, _"Heh, even in an alternate reality, I still lose to Lindsey Sugarbottom… even when I'm the young girl and they're the boy!"_

"So hey, did you win anything at least?" Lexx asks, his peaking curiosity beaming in his voice.

Linka responds by pulling out an envelope, "Yeah, I won fifty dollars in cash, and an invite to come to another one if I so choose."

" _Yeah, fifty bucks down, four hundred and fifty to go."_

"That's awesome Link!" Lexx excitedly shouts, "You can try again later! Then you'll definitely win!"

Linka smiles in response, as if considering doing so later.

That's when Levi walks into the living room, carrying a white bag. "Greetings family units, I will be commandeering the supply of lemons until further notice."

Loki follows him, "Why Levi? Planning on making some lemonade or something?"

"No, after I took a well-needed nap, I got an idea for what I call Lemon-ades, and I need the lemons to test them!"

"Well ok then…" Loki goes, before pulling out his phone and texting his girlfriend again, "Oh and it's going to be something like ninety degrees tomorrow or something… so make sure to put the ones you don't use back when you're done."

Immediately Linka perks up, "Ninety degrees tomorrow you say?" She whispers, before snapping her fingers, "I know just how to make that five hundred dollars!" And with that, she jumps off the couch, rushes up the Loud House stairs and runs into her own room.

She wastes no time changing out of the pageant gown and into an orange polo shirt and blue pants, _"Just like what I wear at home."_

And with that, she rush out of her room, down the stairs and out the home… before promptly turning around and asking, "Hey Loki! Which grocery store aren't we banned from?!"

Loki takes a moment to respond, "The Barg'N Mart on Bikini Avenue still hasn't kicked us out yet."

"Thanks!" she responds, before turning and running again.

A few minutes later she runs into the treasure chest shaped store and puts her hands on her knees while taking deep breathes to calm herself down. "Huff, puff… Why was that run so hard?!" She stands up and leans against the store's outer wall, "It's like I'm not used to running in this body… I guess Lynn never bothered to help me out here or something…"

She digs into her pocket and pulls out her money, all fifty dollars worth, "Ok, I've got enough to by lemons, sugar and a pitcher." And with that she gets up, stretches a bit and steps inside the massive store.

"Wow…" She whispers in awe, "It's a good thing we're not banned from this store or else we'd never be able to get everything we'd need!"

The store is filled from side to side with its random assortment of goodies and supplies for the massive family. "Ok Lincoln." Linka whispers as she quickly looks around, before running down a nearby aisle, "I just need to get sugar, lemons and that pitcher!"

She turns and runs down the back aisle, towards the freezers, _"Come on, there has to be something around here!"_ Linka ducks and jumps through a cart's opening, before rolling and turning down an open aisle.

"Ok, aisle ten, cooking supplies!" She declares, as she passes by rows of assorted spices and cook wear, before stopping halfway through to catch her breath. "Ok… where the heck is the sugar?!"

"Umm miss." A nearby work greets, causing the girl to look at him. The young man continues, "The sugar is right there…" he points at an almost entirely empty shelf… save for a lone bag of sugar resting by the side.

" _Jackpot!"_ Linka thinks, before jumping up and grabbing the rather heavy bag of sugar. "Huh, I wonder why this is the last bag…" she whispers, before turning to the worker with, "Thanks!"

He nods, "No problem." Before handing Linka a basket, "Would you like to carry that in a basket miss? After all, it would make your shopping easier."

Linka thinks for a moment, before taking the object with a nod and a "thank you!"

With one ingredient in hand, she darts back down the aisle and makes a left, this time making her way towards the kitchen supplies. Unlike her short adventure searching for the sugar, finding the pitcher isn't nearly as exciting, save for the fact that Linka jumps on the carts that crowd the aisle and manages to run passed the people trying to desperately get a simple supply.

She grabs the last plastic pitcher in the aisle with a flip, before checking her handy work, "Awesome! I've managed to get sugar and a pitcher on sale! So with these, I have forty bucks to spend on the lemons!"

Then, she looks up, eagerly looking for her final target, the lemons! So she rushes up a nearby aisle and turns to the seafood section… only to find Loni standing by in a king's robe and cape as he ties balloons to random lobsters with, "Be free my subjects! Be free!"

For a moment, Linka just stands by, unsure of how to react to Loni's behavior… and then she remembers, _"Oh wait, he's just like Leni… nope that still doesn't help it make sense."_

So rather than try to explain his behavior, she slowly backs away into another nearby aisle, before quickly turning and running straight into a young Latino boy in a purple sweater and blue jeans.

"Hey watch where-" He goes with an annoyed tone, before his eyes catch sight of who ran into him, "Oh, hey Linka." He offers his hand to the girl."

"Hey there, Ron?"

The young boy tilts his head in confusion, "You recognize me don't you Lame-O?!" then he comes closer to her, "Come on, you're my girlfriend!"

Linka's face goes flush in realization, _"If I'm dating Ronnie Anne in my own dimension… that means that I'm dating Ron in this dimension… think fast Lincoln! Your boyfriend here probably thinks that you've forgotten about him."_

That's when an idea comes to her mind.

Linka's eyes dart around the aisle, before she sighs, "Ok, no one else's around Ron. We're good." She takes the boy's hand and lets him help her onto her feet, "What are you doing here?"

The boy shrugs, "I'm here with Bebe. She's trying to get a new job… for some reason. What about you? And why do you look like you've just ran a marathon?"

"I'm just trying to get some lemons for a stand tomorrow. I need to make five hundred dollars in two days!"

"I see." Ron goes as he puts his hand on his chin in thoughts, "Well, I wish you luck then Linka, you're going to have a tough time though."

"Why is that?"

Ron motions at her ingredients, "Did you notice that those were probably the last ones the store had in stock?"

Linka nods, "Yeah, what about it?"

"Everyone's planning on opening a stand tomorrow! You've got to make a plan before you decide to go open up shop!"

The girl nods, before shivering at the idea of having to deal with so much competition, "Ok Ron, thanks!" Then she looks around once more, "Do you know where the lemons are?"

"Yeah, they're on the other side of the store, where you walked in."

A beat passes.

"Oh… Ok then! Thanks Ron!" She shouts, and though she does find it a bit awkward, she pulls Ron into a hug, before running out of the aisle towards the lemons.

Ron's face goes flush in the realization of what just happened, before he smiles. "Awesome." And with that, he continues prowling along the aisles, trying to kill the time before he finally would go home with Bebe.

A few minutes later…

With supplies in hand, Linka tiredly steps into her home once again, before plopping down on the couch. "Phew, what a day."

"Welcome home Linka!" Loni goes as he steps into the room, still wearing his kingly costume. He then hands her a cinnamon bun.

"Thanks Loni." She responds, taking the treat in her hands, "By the way, why were you freeing those lobsters?"

Loni smiles, "Because they deserve to be free! After all, it's wrong to keep them held up in tanks without freedom!"

"Ok then…" Linka then stands up and yawns, "Anyways, I'm going to head to bed, goodnight Loni."

"G'night sis!"

And with that, Linka walks over to the fridge, shoves her supplies inside, before heading upstairs to her room, jumping on the bed and going to bed.

 _ **The Next Morning…**_

*Ruff!* Charlie the dog goes as she jumps on Linka's bed, licking her awake. "Haha!" She goes, before tiredly going, "Morning Charles… or should I say Charlie?"

"Ruff!" With a few more licks, Linka sits up in her bed, "Ok girl! Ok, it'll take you for a walk! Later though."

Charlie pouts in defeat, before jumping off the bed and walking out of her room. "Heh, what a way to start the mornin' huh." She whispers, before turning and jumping up, "Anyways, today's the day I make that five hundred dollars!"

So, she grabs her towel and loofa, before heading over to the bathroom and cleaning up a bit. Then she changes into an orange blouse with a blue skirt, before heading downstairs, recovering her supplies and rushing out the door to start her stand.

Few minutes later and she's sitting at a hastily constructed lemonade stand with several plastic cups ready and a pitcher of lemonade set up nearby, "Ok Lincoln, all you have to do is make sure that you make enough money to buy that crystal."

"Hey there." A girl, about Linka's age greets as she walks over to the girl's stand. She has brown hair and light skin, similar to a boy Linka knows very well. So she takes the risk, "Hey there Chandler, want some lemonade?"

The girl nods, "Sure. I might as well do something to beat the heat."

"That'll be twenty-five cents!" Linka declares, her excitement brewing.

"Ok then." Chandler places drops a quarter on the stand, before grabbing the cup, taking a sip, and promptly spitting it out. "Is this a joke?! What's going on?! This Lemonade sucks worse than you do!"

A beat passes.

Linka is unsure of how to respond, and begins to tear up. " _Keep it together Lincoln, you don't really know this kid… but why do I have the sudden urge to cry?"_ Yet, Lincoln isn't in his own body, so how could he keep himself together?

"This is what I think of your stupid Lemonade!" Chandler declares as she grabs the pitcher and dumps it on the girl, the two cronies behind her laughing as she does so.

"Call me when you stop sucking. With lemonade like that, you won't make a dime!"

And with that, the girl laughs and walks off, her two cronies following her closely. With Chandler out of sight, Linka immediately breaks down in tears. Without a moment's hesitation, the ten brothers rush over to her side.

"You ok Linka?! What's wrong?! How can we help?!" They shout, their concern for their sister readily apparent.

Linka looks up at Loki, with her tear-filled eyes more than enough to get her point across.

"This is Ron's fault isn't it?" Loki whispers, and Lynn slams his fists together, "Let's get the punk!"

Levi pulls out a lemon, designed with an intergraded pin and switch system, "He will be the perfect subject to test out my new Lemonades."

Luke strums his guitar, "He's going to pay for this."

Lexx and Leif turn to each other and nod.

"No guys!" Linka desperately cries, "Don't hurt him! It wasn't him! It was another girl!"

"Oh," Lane goes in response. "Well then if you need some help, we're here for ya Linka!"

"Yeah!" Lynn helps his sister back on her feet, "If you need anything, we can do it!"

Linka thinks for a moment, before taking a deep breath, "Could you guys help me out here? I need to sell this lemonade and make five hundred dollars before the end of the day!"

For a moment the brothers look at her with skeptical expressions, before Loki looks at the brothers and says, "Remember the California Rush guys?"

"You mean the time we helped that crazy scientist and those twins fight a giant robot?" Lars asks.

"Yeah." Loki answers, "You remember what we had to do?" The boys nod in agreement, "Grab the lemons, we've got some lemonade to make!"

Immediately the boys nod, before rushing back into the house and beginning the onslaught. Loki runs to the fridge and grabs the leftover lemons, while Leif jumps up and grabs the sugar. Levi runs up to his room to grab the lemon-ades while Luke follows to grab his guitar.

The rest of the brothers stay in the kitchen and start to make a batch of Lemonade for their kid sister. And just in time too.

Because mere moments after they run inside Ron opens up shop right across the street!

"Ron! What are you doing?!" Linka asks as she walks over to the boy's lemonade stand. The boy looks at her with unconcerned eyes, "I'm trying to sell lemonade!"

"But my stand is across the street!" Linka shouts while throwing her hands in the air to emphasis her point.

"Lame-O, there's plenty of space on the this block for both of us. Don't worry."

Linka sighs in defeat, before returning to her own stand… only for Ron to reveal a set of speakers. He smiles as he shoves a disk in the drive and starts playing some soothing Jazz music, attracting some nearby people.

Immediately, Linka rushes into the home and shouts, "Luke! I need you to play your guitar! I need some lemonade selling music!"

"You've got it sis!" Luke declares, before sliding down the stairs and rushing out the door and onto the front lawn. He throws his amps out and begins strumming away on his electric guitar, attracting patrons like there's no tomorrow!

Yet, Ron doesn't give up, he pulls out a bright yellow sign that reads, "Best lemonade! New and improved formula!" in bold blue colors.

Linka counters by running to Levi and asking, "Levi! I need you to analyze this lemonade for taste!" Within minutes, Levi rushes out of the house with a better Lemonade recipe and some leftover Lemon-ades. "Ok Linka, use these only in self defense! They're unstable right now!"

Then, the moment of truth, the next customers arrive… The two kids work to get their attention, and both succeed!

A few minutes later, Linka's friend Claudia and Ron's friend Christopher pass by together, take a sip of both and immediately, "Wow, this tastes great Linka!" While Christopher declares, "This is awesome Ron!"

Within minutes, more customers arrive at the two stands, with neither getting an edge over the other. The small street of Franklin Avenue is getting more than it bargained for when it comes to selling lemonade!

Both Linka and Ron run to the ones producing the lemonade, Linka's brothers and Ron's friends, and ask, "We've got competition! We've got to beat them!"

"You got it sis!" Loki declares, before moving even faster, with the rest of the working brothers following suit.

On Ron's end, Christopher declares, "No problem Ron!" Before going all out on their lemons.

You can blame Lane and Loni for that, since they were going around town and pointing people in their direction!

After hours of production on both sides, the two stop, with every single customer used up, they both sit back in exhaustion. The Loud brothers lay unconscious on the front lawn, while Ron's friends are the same across the street.

"I'm not giving up yet Linka!" Ron declares as he pushes passed his exhaustion and jumps on his stand, "I'll make more money than you today! I will win this war!"

"Why are we even fighting, Ron?!" Linka desperately asks, as she pushes passed her exhaustion and does the same. "I just wanted to make some money to finish one of Levi's inventions!"

But, before Ron can answer, an old man in a brown coat and redshirt, appears. Next to him is a nearly identical old man in a suit. He walks up to Ron's stand, his silvery-grey hair glimmering in the afternoon light, "Hello, have you seen any anomalies around here?"

While the suited man walks over to Linka's stand and greets, "My bro and I heard of some weirdness around here, so we're looking for the source. See anything strange around here?"

Linka tiredly sits back down in her chair, "No sir, we've been fighting a lemonade war all day. Would you like some lemonade?"

"Don't mind if I do!" The old man declares, before grabbing a cup and dropping a quarter on the table. "Now that I think of it, what are you two doing? Wouldn't it be smarter to you know, have stands in different areas to stop competition?"

A beat passes, before Ron responds, "I have a perfectly legitimate reason for opening up shop here!" Then, he angrily points at Linka, while trying to make sure his face doesn't go flush, "And I will win the Lemonade War!"

The old, trench coated man rubs his chin for a moment, "This isn't much of a war." Then he pulls out a water cannon and gives it to Ron. "Now this'll be a war!"

Ron smiles, "I'll get you today Linka!"

"Oh yeah Ron! I'll still make more than you! Why the heck are you acting like this anyway?!" Linka grabs the lemon-ades, cocks them and throws them at the boy, who counters by blasting them with his water gun.

Once the water hits the lemonades, they explode, covering everyone and everything around them with lemon juice as well as sending both Ron and Linka flying back.

A moment of silence passes.

"Stan, we should leave. We'll find those anomalies later." The red-shirted man declares, while his brother responds, "I agree Ford, let's run." And immediately, they high tail it out of there.

Linka pulls herself from the puddle of lemon juice and water, before grabbing her white hair and wringing it out. "Well, that was a way to end the sales day." Then she steps over and counts her undamaged sales. _"Please be enough…"_ She thinks, _"If you'll ever want to see your sisters again Lincoln, this has to be enough!"_

"Two hundred and fifty dollars…" She meekly whispers, before turning to the sight around her. The two warring stands were covered in juice, with no one left to see to. Everyone involved in making lemonade had passed out from exhaustion and most likely, the resources were out anyway.

" _Dangit… I didn't even come close…"_ Linka begins to tear up in defeat, despite her mind not wanting to, her body can't hold back the emotions of defeat. "Dangit, I'll never see them again!" She bitterly whispers, "My sisters…"

"Linka…" Ron greets as he tiredly steps over, his soaked sweater is open, revealing a white undershirt.

"What do you want Ron?" Linka snaps, "You've caused enough problems don't you think?" Then she sits down on the grass in defeat, "I just wanted to sell lemonade! Not start a war!" Then she meekly thinks, _"Now I'll never see them again…"_

Ron quietly sits down next to her, "I'm sorry for what I did," he whispers as he goes into his pocket and pulls out his sales, all two-hundred and fifty dollars worth, "This is for you. It's just… I might as well give you something to cheer you up, especially after I caused some of this… and opened up shop right across the street from you…"

He then nervously adds, "I just wanted to make enough money to impress you, so I could say I helped you get whatever it is you wanted. After Chandler said your lemonade sucked… Well I thought I'd be able to ya know, help out and seem like a hero to you or something."

Linka's face goes flush as she takes the bills in her hands, "Really Ron? Thank you!" Then, she takes the boy in an embrace, before, though she does find it a bit awkward, giving him a passionate kiss on the lips.

Ron's eyes open up as Linka lets go of him, "Thank you Ron! This makes up for you being such a jerk!" then she playfully punches his shoulder, "Just next time, don't do that!" And with that, Linka quickly counts the cash, before running back into her home, with Ron holding his lips and smiling, before walking away.

Then, once out of sight of the Loud House, he shouts, "Awesome! She kissed me! She actually kissed me!"

Meanwhile Linka rushes upstairs and over to Levi's room. "Hey Levi! I've got the money! You can get the Pizzazium now!"

The four-year-old looks at his sister, *Yawn* "Good, I should have the goggles ready by tomorrow then."

"Awesome! Thanks Levi!" And with that done, she jumps down stairs and greets her exhausted brothers with, "Thanks guys! Because of you, I was able to get the money!" She smiles, before pulling all of her brothers into a claustrophobic hug, "Thanks you guys!"

3-1-22-5 10-15-8-14-19-15-14 23-1-14-20-19 8-9-19 12-5-13-15-14-19 2-1-3-11!

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! This chapter wouldn't have been completed on time if it wasn't for Exotos135's help! Feel free to send prompts and stuff you'd like to see!**


	4. Reality Gazers

**A/N Wow, over 2000 views since the last time I posted, 15 more reviews and now tied for the most favorited story I have! You guys are awesome! I hope you guys enjoy this week's one-shot! R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Some fun inter-dimensional sightseeing. "What happened to the real Linka? After all, that mind had to go somewhere!" (Requested by ultrablud2, Guest, and lordofstoriesx)**_

Story Four: Reality Gazers

"I wish I was home…" The young child whispers as they toss and turn in their bed, "I wish I could see them again… be with my sisters again." Their pained mutters fill the room with a tense air. "No… No! Go away!"

Their body begins to shake and shiver, before they roll onto their back and jolt up with, "Ahh!" they pant in fear, as if they had just finished running a marathon. "What a nightmare…" they whisper, before turning and getting out of their bed. The moonlight dimly illuminates the small room. Not enough to see, but just enough to get a vague idea of where everything is.

"Well… I guess I should get some water or something… That was some dream." They whisper, their exhaustion showing in their tired voice, "Heh, who knew a small lemonade war with a hydro cannon and actual lemon-ades could take so much out of ya?" A beat of silence passes before the realization hits them, "Wait… I just screamed… where are they?"

The child nervously looks around the nearly-pitch-black room for a moment, before feeling the wall next to their door and turning the light on.

"My room!" Lincoln shouts as the light green of his linen closet room comes into view, "I'm home!" His voice fills with excitement, "I can't believe it!" He frantically scrambles around his small space, checking to make sure that everything is exactly where it belongs.

"My room, my comics, Bun Bun!" He shouts, while feeling his white hair and ears. With his mind racing, he turns to his mirror and smiles, "I can't believe it! I'm home!"

Then, his voice fills with skepticism, "I've got to be dreaming." With that thought in mind, he grabs his orange pajamas and underwear's waistbands and checks an important part of himself, "Yep! That's where that's supposed to be!"

His voice fills with a soft relief, "I'm home…" He sighs, before speaking with soft voice, "I don't know why or how, but I'm back."

A small smile forms on his face, "And to think, I was starting to enjoy being Linka. Who knew spending time as someone else could be so fun?" And with that, he turns and grabs his doorknob.

With a slight turn, he prays that the old thing doesn't snap. And opens the door, into the quiet Loud House hallway. _"Everything's quiet… they must still be asleep."_ He thinks nervously, before stepping out of his bedroom and into the hallway.

He quietly scans the hall and gazes into his sister's open bedrooms, hoping to catch a glimpse of the girls he hadn't seen for the past week.

" _Weird… where is everyone?"_ He thinks, before turning away from his sibling's rooms and stepping down the old stairway, where he finds the sisters sitting around the couch in silence. They each have pained expressions on their faces while the air around them is filled with an eerie tranquility.

Lisa seems to have the guiltiest expression out of them all.

"Uhh guys? You ok?" He nervously asks, causing all of his sisters to perk up.

"Lincoln!" they shout, before running up to their young brother and pulling him into a claustrophobic hug.

"You're ok!" Lori shouts with relief filling her voice.

"We were so worried bro!" Luna declares, losing her British accent for a moment.

"Did you have an alternate fun?!" Luan tries to joke. While Lisa, seemingly with more relief in her voice, asks, "You have to tell me everything that happened! You were gone for a week!"

Lynn punches Lincoln twice, "You're safe! And we're glad!" Lana continues for Lynn, "Yeah, we were afraid we'd never see you again!"

"I was going to write a poem about a girl going after her missing twin brother, while a spirit gave her guidance." Lucy says, her usual monotone voice gaining a soft heat to it, "I probably would've called it 'Sibling's Bond' or something like that."

"So how was the other dimension, Lincoln?" Leni asks, her child-like curiosity filling her voice.

Lily then claps and shouts, "Poo poo!"

"Heh guys! I missed you guys so much!" Lincoln shouts, "The other dimension was cool, but I just couldn't enjoy it without you guys around!" And with that, he returns their warm hug.

"Yes, yes, you all missed each other." A strong masculine voice cuts through the overjoyed cheers of the siblings. "But you see, I have business I must attend to. So would you kindly give it a break."

Immediately, a man appears in a pillar of purple light, "Because you see, I have a job that I must do and you, my dear anomaly, are getting in my way." From what Lincoln can see, he's nothing like the first man. Instead he is dressed in a white button down shirt and pants, with a military-like jacket with golden trim. He has light skin, though his uniform covers most of it. The skin on his face is clean-shaven, while a silvery, flame-like mask covers his eyes. On his left arm, he wears a weird, shield-like device with a light-blue orb in its center.

"Who are you?!" Lincoln frantically shouts while his sisters break the hug and stand defiantly in front of him.

"If you want to get to Lincoln, you'll have to go through me!" Lola declares, revealing her sharpened nails as she does so.

The other sisters nod in agreement, before grabbing the nearest thing they can. Lori holds her phone like a knife, Luna holds her guitar like a bat, Luan pulls out two pies, Lynn raises her fists, Lana prepares her mud pies, and Lisa pulls out a vial of random chemical… while Leni stands by obliviously and Lucy stands by, nothing changing about her.

"What the…" Lincoln goes in confusion, "What's going on?!"

The man does not answer, instead choosing to tap the glass orb part of the device on his arm, causing his sisters to glow with purple light, before dissipating into dust. A few seconds later, the dust reforms as metal cards in the man's free hand, each with the image of one of his sisters.

Then, he steps towards the boy.

The young boy is paralyzed with fear as the man looms over his small body. Without saying another word, the man kicks him, causing him to fall to the ground, clutching his abdomen in pain.

"What do you want?" The boy groans painfully.

"I want you snuffed out." The man squats down to Lincoln's height, "Anomalies like you make me sick."

Then, the man taps his device once more, causing Lincoln's body to tense up for a moment, before dissipating and reforming as a card.

"Dimensional anomaly sealed." The man declares, before dropping his sister's cards on the floor, "Unsealing in thirty seconds."

With that, the man takes out a deck of cards, and adds the newly created Lincoln one to it, before opening a portal and stepping in, leaving cold air in his wake.

* * *

"Ahh!" Linka holds back her shout as she jolts awake in her bed. She frantically jumps out and hits her room light on, revealing the familiar pink of her new room. She pants in exhaustion, almost as if she had finished running a marathon mere moments prior. Her slow, deep breaths take a few moments to calm her down.

"What a nightmare…" She whispers, before grabbing her stuffed bunny and holding it close as she lied back down on her bed. She lets its warmth overtake her, soothing her intense fears, "What could it possibly mean?"

For a few moments, she remains silent, unsure of what to do next. For the past week she had been working to find a way back to her home dimension, but with these talks of dimensional anomalies and now people possibly going after all, she feels confused as to what to do next.

So, she turns in her bed, and gazes out the window, into the moonlit night. For some odd reason, the moon seems to glow with a blue hue.

"What time is it anyway?" She nervously whispers, as her eyes fall upon her digital clock, "Wow… two AM." She sighs with a defeated tone, "Well, I guess it's now or never. I've been putting this off for too long."

With that, she gets out of her bed and quietly strolls out of her room, into the noisy hallway filled with the sounds of her snoring siblings. She walks the few steps it takes to reach the room of Lars, the writer, and Lynn, the athlete, before she peers inside, searching for her Gothic brother.

Yet, his bed is empty.

" _Dangit Lars, where are you?"_ Linka thinks. That's when an idea comes to her, _"Wait! If Lucy and Lars are basically the same person, then there's one place I'm going to find them at this hour."_

Linka then turns away from the room and walks over to their shared bathroom. She quietly steps inside it and shuts the door behind her, though with the vent and the hole in the floor, she doubts it would silence much.

"Lars, I know you're in here." She whispers, "I know that you, you-know-what in here, and that it involves you-know-what."

Immediately, the spooky boy appears at her side with, "What? How do you know that?"

" _Quick Linka! No comics, no reading in underwear, and probably no other things that you'd enjoy. You probably didn't have that entire fiasco with Lucy and the toilet bowl!"_

"Umm, sister's intuition?" Linka nervously responds, "It's pretty obvious what happens when a boy decides to go to the bathroom, alone, at night, with his siblings asleep and decent Internet connection on his phone… and 'My Small Horsie'."

"Sigh." Lars goes with a defeated tone, "Ok Linka, what is it? Why have you decided to torment me while I'm spending some private time in the bathroom?

"I think it's time we talked about the dreams I've been having. Has Loki returned your dream guide yet?" Linka speaks with a determined voice, hoping that at least one of her problem could be solved.

Lars nods, "Yeah, he returned it." The boy thinks for a moment, before continuing, "I'll interpret your dreams under the condition that you promise to never tell anyone about what I do in here."

Linka nods in agreement. And so Lars turns and motions for his older sister to follow him. He leads her to his room, before motioning for her to sit on his bed while he searches through his closet. After a few moments, he pulls out a small, white book titled, "One Million Dreams Interpreted."

A somber air fills the room, while Lynn's snoring quiets down, almost as if he could sense the need for silence.

Lars opens the book and asks, "Ok Linka, what were your dreams about?"

The girl thinks for a moment, "The first dream I had a week ago. I was home and a weird man approached me and said that I had to work with him to prevent the destruction of the world or something like that."

"Interesting." Lars responds, before flipping through the book's soft pages. "Would you mind describing him for me."

"Ok…" Linka nervously responds, "He was tall, light-skinned, had a suit on… he seemed to be a lawyer or something… he kinda looked like the G-man from half-life or something, except he had white hair and a top hat."

"Interesting…" Lars quietly flips through his book, searching for a possible answer to quell her fears.

"Here it is… if you dream of a man, he is trying to provide strong guidance to help you in the Future. Since you do not recognize him, you will probably meet him soon, or he is trying to act like your guardian spirit."

"Ok then…" Linka nervously responds, "And in another dream, I was dreaming of this weird dog with rotor blades built into its back."

Lars repeats the process, "You will meet someone important soon, and you will receive something useful to your goal."

Linka sighs, "Well, at least that's more hopeful." Then she continues in a more unsure voice, "And tonight, I had a nightmare where I was a boy, you were all girls, and some random soldier guy sealed us all in cards!"

A beat passes.

"You were probably watching too much anime."

The girl gives a relieved sigh in response, "Thanks Lars, you really helped." And with that, she turns and gets out of the younger boy's bed, before making her way towards the door. "Oh, and by the way, at the end of the first dream, the weird businessman gave me a carnation. Would you mind looking it up and telling me if is important?"

"Ok." Lars responds as he watches his sister walk out of his room. He calmly flips though the pages of his book, before finding the entry on carnations. He reads it quickly, before slamming the book closed, "I have to take a trip from the darkness. It's starting to mess with my head.

 _ **The Next Morning…**_

After a returning to a quiet, dreamless slumber, Linka wakes up once more just a few short hours later. *Yawn* "What a night." She whispers, "At least I finally got my dreams interpreted… though I wish it could've helped more than it did."

Then she sighs, "Ok, today's the day. Let's see if Levi finished." And with that, she gets out of her bed and walks over to the room of her two youngest siblings.

"Hey Levi, you finish the goggles yet?!" Linka curiously asks, and the young genius nods, "Yes I have Linka. I was able to get express shipping on the Pizzazium. Once I got the crystals, I was able to extract liquid Divinium from them, and package them in these." He then takes out a small, fuse-like device filled with blue liquid.

"I thought you needed the crystal to stabilize the goggles?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

Levi nods, "Yes, but while testing to see if it would work properly, the pure crystals couldn't hold up, but their extract could." Then he takes the fuse and shoves it into the empty port on the goggles, "As promised, you are the first person testing the completed goggles, feel free to do with them as you wish." And with that, the young boy hands the device to his sister.

"Thanks Levi!" Linka excitedly shouts, before taking the device in her hands, "So how do I use these?"

"Just put them on, and hit their 'on' switch. The goggles will scan your body and allow you to see and interact with the holographic menus. Once you're uploaded, the goggles with project an astral image of you in whatever dimensions you choose to visit. You will be invisible to basically everyone, save for animal, the mentally deranged, and the really young, like that old show… Quantum Leap I think."

Linka waits a moment, before giving a confused. "What?"

"Basically, you can see into other worlds, but can't interact with anyone or anything… save for children, animals and crazy people."

"Oh… ok then! Anything else I should know before using these?"

Levi shakes his head, "Just know that they're very experimental currently, so I am unsure of what may happen when you turn them on."

"Got it." And with that Linka rushes out of his room and into her own.

The young boy adjusts his glasses before muttering, "Weird. Linka seems different… I can't put my finger on it." Then, he steps out of his room as well and walks over to the room of the middle eldest, Luke and Lane.

He steps in quietly, with Luke strumming away on his electric guitar and Lane working with Mrs. Coconuts.

"Luke! Lane! Have you noticed Linka acting strangely lately?!"

The two stop what they're doing and turn to their younger brother, before Luke responds, "No, why you ask?"

Levi then speaks, his voice filled with determination, "Because she has been acting strangely ever since she had that dream last week. I fear that her dream may have not been a dream."

"Nah Levi." Luke responds with a commanding voice, "You know her, that's probably just your sister being a girl. It's not like she's an entirely different person after all."

"Yes, of course… I'm just concerned because she seemed really desperate to use a set of prototype goggles I had been working on."

"Is that why she opened up that lemonade stand yesterday?"

Levi nods, "Yes, I needed a part to finish the device and she provided it for me."

Mrs. Coconuts then speaks up, "Maybe you shouldn't get into your sister's business!"

Lane turns to his dummy in shock, "Why not Mrs. Coconuts?"

"It never ends well!" The dummy responds.

"I have to agree with Levi on this." Lars randomly appears in the room, "Linka has been acting stranger than normal."

Luke solemnly places his guitar in its rack, before warning his two brothers, "Look, I probably can't stop you from doing whatever it is you two want to do. But don't get into Linka's private stuff. It's a bad idea, just ask Loki."

The duo winces at the idea.

"Take my word for it." Luke continues, "It won't end well for anyone. 'Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned' after all."

Levi and Lars both nod in agreement, before walking out of that room and over to Levi and Leon's room.

"So what's the plan Levi?" Lars asks as he walks into the younger boy's room.

The younger boy thinks for a moment, before answering, "Ok, when Linka starts using the goggles and starts viewing alternate realities, we can search her room and maybe find something that can put our fears at ease."

Lars nods in agreement, "Not a bad idea, but if we're going to search something, we may need some help.

And with that, the two boys turn the gazes towards the room across the hall.

Meanwhile, Linka jumps on her chair in excitement. Her heart begins to race in anticipation, _"Finally."_ Her young mind thinks in excitement, _"It's been a week since I've last seen them. I hope that they're doing well!"_

And with that, she ties the goggles to her head and feels them, searching for the 'on' switch.

"Welp, here goes!" She declares, before flipping the switch, turning the goggles on.

Immediately, the goggles spring to life and scan the young girl, before scanning her surrounding room. After a few seconds, a holographic menu appears before her eyes, while a feminine voice speaks, _**"Welcome user, Linka Loud. Dimension 63i'\\."**_

"GLaDOS, is that you?" Linka jokingly asks."

" _ **Sound files used for unit creation were taken from video game sound files: Portal"**_

The goggle's main menu loads next, with random bars and submenus filling the screen. For a moment, Linka is unsure of what to do, with so many options how could she pick?!"

So, she takes a deep breath and says, "Ok, I want to see into an alternate reality, can you open up that menu?"

" _ **Input accepted."**_ The AI responds, before the main menu dissipates, and is replaced by a single input bar, _**"Please enter dimension number.**_ A holographic keyboard appears by Linka's hands. She takes a deep breath, before typing, "C-137."

Immediately, another menu opens up, labeled, "Track user dimensional signature? [Y/N]"

"Yes!" Linka commands.

" _ **Input accepted."**_ GLaDOS answers, before continuing, _**"Preparing for dimensional insertion."**_

A few seconds later, Linka's body begins to shine and her surrounding begin to melt away, revealing the multiverse. _**"Dimension found… Travelling… Error."**_

"Wait… error?!" Linka shouts as the multiverse melts away, revealing her standing in front of the home now.

"What the heck…" She whispers as she checks her surroundings. The AI then speaks up, _**"Wrong dimensional target detected, recalibrating."**_

"So this is what Levi meant by unstable…"

Immediately the goggles go off once more. When Linka opens her eyes, she's standing in front of what seems to be an even more feminine version of her, with even longer white hair, and in an orange swimsuit.

"Lincoln Loud came to my pool party! And in a speedo!" She shouts at he top of her lungs in excitement. Linka immediately turns and spots this dimension's version of Lincoln walking into the yard, wearing nothing but a speedo, while carrying an Ace Savvy themed towel.

" _ **Warning, Current Dimension: 'J-J Ink 9-16' detected. Recalibrating... transporting to next dimension..."**_

"What the?!" Linka shouts, before the goggles trigger, causing her to shut her eyes, lest the light blind her.

Linka finds herself in front of the Loud House once more. "Wow, that was unexpected…" Linka whispers, "I wonder what that was about…" immediately, the front door flies open, revealing a seemingly older Lisa, as she leads her siblings out of the home.

"Huh, weird, so a dimension where we were born in reverse order? That's unexpected… I wonder where older Lily is…"

 _ **"Current Dimension: SAK-FTL-1 detected, recalibrating!"**_

Linka sighs, before shouting, "GLaDOS! Make up your mind!"

" **Don't get sassy with me Ms. Loud! This is my first usage, and I have not completed calibration yet!"**

She groans, before glowing with energy once more.

"Great, where am I this time?" Linka moans as she checks her newfound surroundings. "Huh, I'm in the living room…" She whispers, right before Lincoln bursts in through the front door, carrying a weird helmet-like device.

Linka watches as her dimensional counterpart tries the helmet and starts playing. After a few minutes of waiting, Luan and Luna walk in.

"Whoa Linc! What do you got there?!" Luan asks, startling the boy.

Immediately, an androgynous figure appears on the TV screen, along with the title, "The Loud Sim Date." Hearts surrounds everything on the screen.

Linka stands back for a moment, unsure of how to react to what she was watching.

" **Current** _ **Dimension Detected: EXTS-411, recalibrating!"**_

"Oh come on!" Linka angrily shouts, "When will you finish calibrating properly?!"

" **Eventually."**

Another burst of light, another move. This time, Linka finds herself onboard a ship docked in harbor. She immediately looks around, hoping to find some resemblance of normality, only for her gaze to fall upon two children as they run on board.

"Captain on deck!" A familiar voice shouts, and Linka turns and scans the area, only to find Lori in a turquoise frock and khaki breeches, walking towards them.

"So… pirate world? Seems interesting." Then Linka's voice gains a hint of hostility. "GLaDOS, are you even trying to get me to the right world?!"

" _ **Yes, yes I am. Current Dimension detected: ARCH-17! Recalibrating."**_

"This is getting really annoying GLaDOS!" Linka shouts, before disappearing with another burst of light.

When Linka opens her eyes again, she finds herself standing in a Loud House hallway. "Ok… all seems well, I wonder what's unique about this universe…"

"Oh Lincoln!" A familiar voice cries out.

*Sigh* Linka goes, before walking over to the nearby room, her curiosity peaked. "Let's see what-" She starts, but doesn't finish.

Her eyes are fixed on the sight as she watches her dimensional counterpart, "enjoy" his sisters in a way only lovers can. By what Linka can see, the girls all have hearts in their eyes, almost as if lovesick. "Why is there a dimension where my sisters are all yanderes and in love with me?" Linka desperately asks.

" _ **Infinite universes, infinite possibilities. Current Dimension Detected: HRM-YNDR-34! Recalibrating."**_

With that, Linka closes her eyes.

When she opens them, she declares, "Well now I'm traumatized for life."

" _ **You'll get over it."**_

"GLaDOS, you suck!"

" _ **I'll take that as a compliment."**_

Linka then looks around, only to find herself in a dark room, standing behind Ronnie Anne.

"And you are a huge faggot!" The young girl declares as she types away. "Haha, go kill yourself!" Ronnie continues typing, the website she is seems to have been made in 2003, since its design is so bland. The address has been shortened to a bookmark tab.

"/b/, random? What is Ronnie Anne doing?!" Linka then turns around and spots her dimensional counterpart sleeping soundly on Ronnie's bed. Her face goes red for a moment, before she whispers, "Oh… so in this dimension, Ronnie Anne is an Internet troll and I got to third base and maybe home."

" _ **Current D**_ _ **imension Detected: 4CHN-B1! Recalibrating!"**_

With another burst of Light, Linka finds herself on a beautiful hill, with the entire dimension's counterparts of the Loud family resting.

"Huh, so a vacation huh? I wonder what could possibly go-"

Linka watches this dimension's Lincoln say, "For all it's worth, you're my favorite sister."

Lori smiles at the compliment, before hugging Lincoln, and leaning up against the nearby tree.

"If the past few jumps have taught me anything, I know exactly where this is going."

" _ **Current**_ _ **Dimension Detected: OU-UB-27! Recalibrating…"**_

" _Please work this time! Please, this is getting out of hand!"_

" _ **Dimensional Catalogue Detected!"**_

And with that, Linka shuts her eyes once more.

This time she finds herself riding on the back of a horse as it runs across an open plain. "Now where am I?!" she shouts in fear, before looking around and finding that she's behind a cowboy as he rounds up a herd of waiting cattle.

"Another day's work!" He shouts, "Another day for the Loud Ranch!"

"The Loud ranch?" Linka whispers, before looking around further, there were ten others riding on horses as they rounded up the animals, before securing them for the night, and riding back to the main ranch.

"Whoa, so there's a dimension where we're all cowboys?!" Linka goes in surprise, "That's actually pretty cool!"

A few moments later, they end up back at the ranch house, with the eleven siblings returning their horses for the night, they yawn, and enter the home. "Should I? I mean, I don't think I should…" Linka debates for a moment, before an ominous wind takes hold. A red and blue portal opens next to her and a familiar man steps out.

Linka takes a step back in fear as the man glares at her, "There you are, my little anomaly. You've been jumping quite a bit haven't you?" Then, he pulls out a metal card; "I believe it's time to seal you away!"

" _ **Current**_ _ **Dimension Detected: C-1! Recalibrating to catalogue!"**_ The goggles spring to life suddenly, before engulfing her astral body with light.

When she lands finally, she breathes a sigh of relief, "Phew… that was a close one… who was that guy?" then she breathes in, "No use finding out now.

She quickly takes a look around, "And what does he want with me? I'm not an anomaly!" She steps onto the open field again, this time taking a quick look around, "Huh, I wonder where the people are…"

"Come on Lincoln!" An anthropomorphic bunny rabbit declares as he runs passed Linka.

"Wait… what?" Linka stutters.

Another one, this one with white fur, runs passed, "I'm coming Lynn! Having twenty sisters doesn't help you know! I'm really tired!"

Linka takes a moment to understand what is going on, "So in this dimension we're rabbit?" She waits a beat, before chasing after them, "Well… seeing how big the Loud family is, rabbits are a pretty decent comparison to make, am I right?"

But before she can see the rest of the herd, the goggles buzz to life.

 _ **"** ** _C_ urrent **__**Dimension Detected: C-13! Recalibrating!"**_

Another transport later, Linka finds herself standing before the front door to the Loud House again.

A few moments of silence pass, with Linka waiting for GLaDOS to trigger once more.

 _ **"Current Dimension Detected: C-137!"**_

More time passes, before GLaDOS continues.

 _ **"Welcome to Dimension C-137. Dimensional signature of Dimensional Counterpart detected. When ready to return to dimension 63i'\ please shout 'Return to home dimension'."**_

Linka sighs, "Finally, that took forever. I really have to tell Levi to fix these later."

 _ **"** **I am working perfectly fine. Recalibration is complete."**_

The girl doesn't respond and instead grabs the doorknob… only for her hand to phase right through it.

"Well that's convenient." She whispers, before entering the home, only to find the sisters waiting at the base of the stairs.

"Come on Lincoln! The mall awaits!" Lori shouts. Right before the young boy slides down the stairs. "I'm right here Lori!"

"You feelin' ok Linc? You never want to go to the mall?" Luna nervously asks, but Lincoln just nods, "Yep! I can't wait to go to the mall with you guys!

"Ok then!" Leni shouts, before rushing out the door, and running right through Linka."

"Linka! Linka!" Lily shouts as she tries to grab at the dimensional specter, but to no avail.

Linka smiles, "At least you can see me Lily." She somberly whispers, before turning to the others. For the most part, the sisters seem fine. None of them even suspect the new Lincoln.

Lisa looks at Lincoln with suspicious eyes, almost as if she had a feeling that the Lincoln they had wasn't their own. Luan, Lynn, Lola and Lana seem unaffected by Lincoln's change, while Lucy seems overly suspicious as well.

Without another word, the group follows Leni into the family van.

And with that, Linka watches as her sisters drive away, towards the Royal Woods Mall.

"Well… I guess since I'm in her body, Linka's in mine… I think. I wonder if that's really Linka."

Then she sighs sadly, _"At least they're ok… at least they're not worried about me. The last thing I'd need is for all of my sisters panicking that I'm in danger or something._

Without warning, a familiar red and blue portal opens by Linka and a familiar man steps out. "Well isn't it my lucky day, there are two anomalies in this universe!" He declares, before stepping towards Linka, "Now come quietly, or else I'll have to find you directly.

Linka panics and shouts, "GLaDOS! Return to home dimension!"

" _ **Input accepted, goggles shutting down."**_

Immediately, the world around Linka began to fade away.

"I will find you, you dimensional anomaly." The man mutters as Linka's astral projection fades away.

The world soon reforms around Linka, before she calmly takes her goggles off. "Great, this is just freaking great!" she mutters, "First I'm sent to the wrong dimension, and now some weird man is after me!"

Then she sighs, "At least for now, my sisters seem safe. Hopefully whoever is in my body can protect my sisters from whoever is after us."

She turns and look out into the morning sky, "I really miss them…" Before she puts on a determined expression, that's why I have to do my best to get home soon."

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"So let me get this straight… you want to invade our only sister's privacy, the little privacy she has and holds dear as the only girl in the family mind you, because you're suspicious that she's not our sister?" Lexx asks skeptically.

Levi and Lars both nod in agreement. "Yes, would you help us search her room?" Levi nonchalantly asks.

"I'm in."

"Good." Levi responds, "When she's out for the day, we'll search her room, because it sounds like she finished using the goggles."

14-15-20-5, 14-5-22-5-18 7-15 20-15 4-9-13-5-14-19-9-15-14 20-8-9-18-20-25 6-15-21-18 15-18 1-14-25 15-6 9-20-19 3-1-20-1-12-15-7-21-5-19! 1-12-19-15, 23-8-1-20 23-1-19 12-1-18-19 4-15-9-14-7 9-14 20-8-5 2-1-20-8-18-15-15-13?

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed this week's one-shot! I thank Exotos135 for a ton of the suggestions! As always, feel free to send in prompts and stuff you'd like to see!**

 **Also, props if you can guess each dimension Linka visited!**


	5. Card Games And Motorcycles

**A/N Hey guys! It's Omega again with another one-shot! You guys are the best! This story has reached second in my story list for most reviews, overall views and number one in faves and follows! Anyways, I love a card game called "Yu-Gi-Oh!" So what better way to have some fun writing a one-shot than to write about my favorite game! I hope you guys enjoy! R &R!**

 **Also, if you got the email twice, it's because I had to reupload due to site error.**

 ** _Story Summary/Prompt: The Louds decide to have some fun playing card games! "How about the next chapter explore precisely WHAT THE CROSSPINS IS GOING ON WITH ALL THE DIMENSIONAL ANOMALIES AND STUFF?" (Requested by Jas114)_**

Story Five: Card Games And Motorcyles

Dinner in the Loud House is a sight to behold. With ten girls it can get crazy, but there's always that idea of restraint holding them back. With ten boys however…

Things are more liable to breakage and chaos.

" _Who was that guy? Why was he in dimension C-137? Why did he call me an anomaly?"_ Linka worriedly thought while she nervously pushed the food of her plate around. _"I have the strangest feeling that my sisters are in danger… But what can I do? I'm stuck in another reality with no way home!"_

"So kids!" Lynn Sr. joyfully shouts, "Why don't you tell us what you did today?!"

Loki takes a mouthful of food and shoves it into his mouth, before saying, "I entered this contest and won a motorcycle!"

"Oh really honey?" Rita responds, "What was that contest?"

He goes red, "I'd rather not say."

"Come on son, what could you have possibly done to win a motorcycle that could be so bad?" Lynn Sr. asks, turning his commanding gaze towards his eldest son.

Loki looks away in shame, before declaring, "I had to run through the school in nothing but a pretty pink dress, princess shoes and a princess hat for the longest time." Then he turns to Linka, "I now know how you felt wearing that dress a few days ago."

The lone girl doesn't respond, and instead continues her nervous gesture.

"Hey Linka?" Rita worriedly calls.

Immediately, she flinches, "Huh, what?"

"You've barely touched your dinner sweetie. Is something wrong?" Rita continues, her worried voice gaining its usual motherly tone.

"Is there anything you'd like to talk about?" Lynn Sr. continues.

Lane then responds, "Yeah sis, you're probably just ovary-acting about it!"

Loni then speaks up, "Ovary acting? What's that?"

"It's a type of song genre Loni." Luke and answers, before elbowing Lane, "Isn't that right Lane?"

"Come on guys." Lynn Jr. responds, "It's not like we can keep Loni in the dark forever, even though he is the most innocent of us!"

Linka then glares at Lane.

Immediately the comedian throws his hand up defensively, "Whoa, sorry Linka. I guess I went a bit too far." He nervously rubs the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Ya think bro?" Loki goes, before turning to Linka, "So what's buggin' ya sis? You're usually more talkative at the table."

"Nothing Loki." Linka quickly responds, "Everything's just fine." She puts on a sheepish smile, _"Yeah, just some random man is coming after us and stuff. It could be worse!"_

"I know!" Lynn Jr. declares, "She's probably still thinking of the lemonade stand she made yesterday!"

"How did that go?" Rita asks, and Luke responds, "I saw Linka kiss the boy she was competing with, haha!"

Lane laughs, "Haha! I guess true love can be made from lemon-ades!"

"Aww, that means she's got a boyfriend!" Loni declares, "So cute!" Causing Linka to blush and shout, "He's not my boyfriend!"

The boys go, "D'aww." In unison.

*Groan* _"Well, at least they don't suspect the real reason."_ Linka then forces herself to eat some of the food on her plate, before standing up and declaring, "I guess I'll be in my room if you need me."

And with that, she walks into the kitchen, passed the kiddie table and over to the sink without greeting her younger siblings. Without another word she walks up to her room.

"I wonder what's up with Linka." Leif says, "She's usually more cheery."

"I'm not sure." Lexx responds, "Though… maybe I can go and try to cheer her up! After all, she did help me get my girl, so it's the least I can do!"

"You? Cheer up Linka?" Leif laughs, "You couldn't even cheer up a star girl with a magic fish hat!"

Lexx begins to steam, "Oh yeah! I'll prove it!"

Leif jumps out of his seat, "Not if I can prove it first!"

And with that, the twins run passed everyone else and up the stairs.

 ** _A Few Minutes Later…_**

Linka lies on the bed, unsure of what to do next, "Maybe I could use the dimensional goggles again."

Then, she leans up and sighs, "To be honest, I haven't taken a break in days…" She glances at the dimensional watch resting on her table next to the oversized textbook, "I wonder if I can modify that…"

"I want to play with her first!" Lexx shouts and he and Leif roll into the young girl's room.

"No! Me first!" by the time the twins stop rolling, they're right in the middle of the closet, with the young girl sitting right next to them, while they fight over a weird box."

"Umm, guys?" Linka quizzically goes, "What are you fighting over now?"

"We want to play a game with you Linka!" Lexx declares.

"Yeah!" Leif continues, "It's called duel monsters, and it's sure to cheer you up in one way or another!"

Lexx then snatches the box from Leif, "So what do ya say sis?"

Leif then rubs the back of his head, "We know you've said you'd never play it, ever, but why don't you give it a chance! What's the worst that can happen?"

" _Duel monsters huh? I remember wanting to play this back home… but none of my sisters would play with me."_

So with a sigh, Linka answers, "Sure you two. I'll play."

The young boys both smile and cheer, "Awesome Linka!"

"So how do I play?" She asks, _"I know how to play, there was an entire network dedicated to playing this game before Komoney decided to pull the plug."_

 ** _Ten Minutes Later…_**

"So you get all that, Linka?" Leif asks, both his and Lexx's excitement beams in their smiling expressions.

The young girl nods, "Yeah, so wanna play now?" While she thinks, _"Actually I didn't. I just already knew all that stuff."_

Then, Lexx turns to Leif, "Wanna show her the ARC System? And play on that?"

"Yeah, it's the most fun way to play!"

"ARC system?" Linka tilts her head in confusion, while the two boys get off her bed. They motion for her to follow them, and she complies. A few steps later and the trio are standing in Levi's room as he fiddles with some odd devices.

"Guys, I thought we were going to play a game?"

"We are!" Lexx answers, "But we need to grab some gear first!"

"What gear?" Linka asks, "And what's the ARC System?"

Levi grabs a nearby screwdriver and answers; "ARC System is shorthand for The Augmented Reality Combat System." Then, he secures a screen to the new device, "It creates hard-light projections of whatever card is put in play, allowing users to actually feel the creatures attacking them."

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

Lexx waves her off, "Nah, it's really fun! Plus, the ARC system creates a cushion of hard light so you don't get hurt that badly!"

Leif finishes, "So while you may find the occasional burn mark, everything is fine overall!"

Levi then screws in the final part, before declaring, "And with that, your duel disk is complete." He then hands her the pink device, "With it, you'll be able to use the ARC system to duel."

Though Linka hesitates for a moment, she eventually does strap the watch-pad-like device to her wrist and shoves her newly-made deck in its open slot. "Ok, so where can we go to play?"

"Outside. The ARC System is too dangerous to use indoors." Levi answers, before walking over to his closet and revealing a console, "I'll be running everything from up here, have fun out there!

"Ok then." Linka responds, before Leif and Lexx lead her into the backyard.

She calmly walks over to one end, while the twins walk over to the other.

" ** _Augmented Reality Combat System Engaged!"_** GLaDOS declares, **_"Preparing to illuminate arena!"_** Immediately, the dark night around the trio lights up and gains a bluish hue to it. Hard-light boxes appear above them, as if designed to be jumped on top of, **_"Life point counters check, Neural Link engaged! Duel Disks Engaged!"_**

Immediately, Linka's new device turns on. Its screen gains a light blue hue, before a bent, black hard-light panel with an orange boarder appears in front of it.

The same thing happens to Leif's device, while Lexx stands by, his own on, but with no blade.

*Yawn* "What's going on?" Loki asks as he steps out into the backyard.

Luke follows behind, "It looks like Linka's dueling Leif and Lexx."

"Didn't she say she'd never play that game in like a million years?" Lane jokingly says, "Well she's going dual her night away!"

"Bad pun is bad Lane." Loki responds.

Then the brothers focus their attention of the three dueling.

"Ok, let's go!" Linka shouts and together, they declare, "Let's duel!"

"Ladies first!" Leif and Lexx declare, and Linka nods, "Ok then, I'll start off by playing Pre-preparation of rites!" she then shoves the spell card into her disk's bottom slot, "With it, I can add two cards to my hand, a ritual monster and spell!"

The wrist dealer spits out two cards, which Linka grabs as she continues, "And I'm going to use the spell I just added! Prediction Ritual!"

"What does it do Linka?" Leif nervously asks, as not expecting his sister to do something like that first turn.

"By tributing the pot of taboos in my hand, it'll let me ritual summon!" immediately, a massive circular stone tablet appears on the field between the duo, as nine flames appear around them, each flame flies over to an empty lamp, before a massive burst of energy flashes into the sky.

"I ritual summon, Prediction Princess Tarotrei!" immediately, the massive creature descends from the column of light, with a large blue dress covering its bony body; long blue hair and a purple scarf that reaches the end of her dress.

"And with that, I'll set two cards and end my turn." Linka declares, while she thinks, _"I have to hold back, I have to hold back."_

"Interesting first move sis, not bad for a beginner!" Lexx quips, while Leif declares, "I draw!" Then, he places his new card in hand, before pulling two others out, "And I'll start off by playing the spell Twin twister!" he shoves the spell in his disk's bottom slot, before placing another in his top, while Lexx declares, "By discarding Zefraxa, Flame Beast of the Nekroz, I can destroy your two face-down cards!"

Immediately, two massive tornadoes engulf the field, destroying Linka's defensive cards, much to her dismay.

"Dangit!" She shouts, as she stands before them defiantly

"And without any chance for retaliation, we'll set the pendulum scale."

"Pendulum scale?" Linka quizzically asks.

Lexx answers, "This is the fusion between spells and monsters!"

Leif continues, "With two monsters we can set the pendulum scale and perform a pendulum summon!"

"A pendulum summon?!"

"That's right1" The twins declare. "With scale one Shaddoll Zefranaga and Scale seven Ritual Beast Tamer Zefrawendi, we set the pendulum scale!" Leif then places the two monsters at opposing ends of his duel disk, causing the ARC System to project two pillars of light.

Then, the two chosen monsters rise up from the ground and float in mid air, on their right is a black-clad warrior with gold armor around his chest and angel wings, with a number one below him.

On their left is a pink-clad girl with blonde hair carrying a majestic staff with a green orb in it, while she rides a winged, pink dolphin wearing light-blue armor and another green orb connected to its headdress. The number seven is below her.

"With that, we can summon monsters with levels two through six all at the same time!"

"Doesn't that seem a bit broken?" Linka nervously questions, only for Lexx to respond, "Yes, yes it is!"

Then he sets one card, before declaring, "Now I'll play card of sanctity, it'll let us draw until we both have six cards in hand!"

Linka nods, before pulling the cards while Leif does the same. Then Lexx continues, "Next we play Oracle of Zefra, which lets us add a Zefra monster card to our hand! And we choose this!"

The wrist dealer spits out the chosen card while a massive obelisk appears behind him, built with ten massive orbs arranged in a weird, connection-like set-up.

Then, a small light appears above them, floating in a circular motion, "Our monsters are ready to swing into action!" Immediately, the light swings faster, and faster gaining more and more momentum before a light-pink portal opens up, and four lights burst forth from it. "We pendulum summon! Stellarknight Zefrathuban! Satellarknight Zefrathuban! ZefraSaber, Swordmaster of the Nekroz! And Zefraxi, Treasure of the Yang Zing!"

"Yep, that mechanic is literally broken." Loki declares, "Linka is probably screwed isn't she?"

"Yeah probably." Luke responds

Leif continues, "Next we'll use Zefraxi's effect! Since I pendulum summoned it, I can treat another Zefra monster as a tuner!"

Linka grits her teeth more, "A tuner monster?!"

"Yep, Zefraxi gives Zefrasaber the ability to modify a monster's frequency! And I'll use it to tune my Zefraxi!" Immediately, the sword master jumps up and splits apart into four rings, engulfing the rocky dragon, turning it into three stars.

"We Synchro summon, Clear Wing Synchro dragon!" a massive white dragon with six translucent wings takes the field. It has a white body with black stripes, as well as blue armor around its hands, head and chest.

"Next, by using my two tellarknights, we can build the overlay network!"

"What's that?" Linka questions, raising her disk up, as if hoping to protect herself.

"The overlay network is how you Xyz summon!" Lexx answers.

Immediately, the two monsters begin to glow with golden light, before turning into orbs and flying into a starry vortex in front of the twins, "I Xyz summon, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"

A massive, black dragon with a metallic body and several purple energy orbs takes the field, with two purple orbs orbiting its body.

"But we're not done yet! I activate my set spell, polymerization! Allowing us to fusion summon!"

Linka can only watch as the two monsters in Leif's hand rise up and become two orbs in a massive blue and orange vortex, "I fusion summon, Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!"

A third dragon, with massive, plant-like appendages takes to the field.

Linka grits her teeth, _"I think I've held back too much!"_ Before she shouts, "I activate Tarotrei's effect! I can flip one of your monsters facedown!"

Yet, Leif counters, "Nope, that won't work, we activate Clear Wing's effect, Negating and destroying Tarotrei!"

The resulting gust of wind almost knocks Linka down.

"Oh, and by the way." Lexx continues, "Clear Wing gains her attack power!" Then the young boys point at their sister, her field empty, "Go! Venom Rebellion Blight!" And with that, the three dragons attack, bringing Linka's life points to zero and sending her back a few feet.

Linka pants for a moment, _"Wow, my sisters would've never played like that."_

"Linka!" The brothers shout, before running over to their defeated sister.

"You ok sis?!" Lynn desperately asks. Loki continues, "Do you need water or something?"

"Maybe Leon can help!" Loni declares, before Leif and Lexx step over with, "Not bad for a beginner Linka."

Loki glares at the twins, before punching their shoulders, "But did you guys seriously have to go all-out on our sister?!"

"What! It's what she wanted!" Leif responds defensively.

The young girl stands up and dusts herself off, "That was fun!" Linka declares, "I wanna go again!" Then, she continues in a more excited tone, "But first, I need to make my own deck, that pendulum thing was cool!"

The brothers immediately turn to each other in surprise, "Sure Linka, we'll hit the card shop tomorrow then." Loki responds, before yawning. "Let's hit the hey, it's time for bed.

A few minutes later and the eleven children are back in their rooms, preparing to go to sleep.

"Heh, that was fun." Linka whispers, before falling onto her soft bed in exhaustion, "Just playing one of my favorite games with my new siblings. Who knew they could be so cool?"

She tucks herself in and gazes up into the moonlit sky, "And no problems yet… I wonder if that weird man will come around though.

Then she chuckles, "Heh, nah, it'll probably be fine."

Then her gaze falls upon her desk, almost completely undisturbed since her arrival. _"Now that I think about it, if I have to act more like Linka, I may need to do some research on her or something like that."_

Then she gets out of her bed and steps over, _"Linka should have a diary or something, after all, all of my sisters have diaries!"_

It takes her a few minutes to search the desk, but she eventually does find a small pink book, titled "Linka's Diary", with "Do not read" written in bold letters, everywhere it could possibly fit.

" _Jackpot."_ Linka whispers, before opening the book and starting to read through its contents.

 ** _Meanwhile…_**

A blue and red portal opens up in the center of Royal Woods Park, before a tall man steps through. His military uniform and stature breathes of a strong professionalism. He moves the shield-like device on his arm closer to his mouth, before declaring, "Anomalies secured in dimension C-137. Hunter-VG has moved to dimension codenamed 63i apostrophe backslash to continue the mission."

" ** _Copy, loud and clear Hunter-VG. Prepare to report back to base after completing mission. Your orders are to capture all anomalies present. Anyone who gets in the way is cleared for sealing. Is that clear?"_**

The hunter nods, "Mission directives are clear. Will report back after mission completion.

" ** _Understood, proceed with mission."_**

The man then taps his device, causing it to project a small map of the town, "It seems that there are more anomalies than first expected. I cannot take out the main source yet." He then closes the map, before turning around and facing a little white bunny.

He wordlessly taps the blue orb on his device, and with a flash of purple light the creature is gone, and the hunter is holding a new metal card, this one decorated with image of a white bunny, "Heh, another anomaly sealed." And with that, he adds the new card to his deck.

"I will not let this dimension fall apart. These pesky anomalies will not escape my grasp."

 ** _The next day…_**

"Come on Linka! There's some fun to be done!" Loki declares, before turning to Levi, "You sure these upgraded disks will work independently of the ARC system?"

The young scientist nods, "Yes, I have even upgraded them so that they can support non-augmented disks as well."

Luke squats down to Levi's height, "Thanks for doing this, Linka seems to be feeling much better now."

"No problem. Anything to make our sister feel better is worth the effort." Levi responds, _"Though, I wonder why she has been feeling so. First strange behavior, and then after she uses the goggles, she suddenly feels horrible? I wonder what's really going on with her… if she even is our so-called sister"_

"Anyways, we've got cards to get and a tourney to win, you sure you guys don't wanna come?" Loni asks, his overjoyed tone cutting through the usual loudness.

"Sigh, I don't like that game much. It takes too much time away from writing." Lars immediately answers. "I remember my author friend online spent an entire summer playing the game to the point where he only ended up finishing one story and barely updating his one-shot collections."

Leif then continues, "Lexx and I want some more practice before we go to an official tourney again."

Lexx nods in agreement, "Yeah, so we'll be using the ARC system in the backyard."

Then, both twins shiver at the thought of what happened at their first competition.

"And I have no use for petty games." Levi adjusts his glasses; "Also, our youngest sibling needs a babysitter until you return. So I will be spending time in my lab working with the remaining liquid Divinium and Pizzazium. I might be able to find a new use for them."

Loki nods, and Linka finally slides down the railing, "I'm ready guys! Let's go!"

Luke strums away at his guitar, "Let's go have some gaming fun!"

And with that, the six siblings step out of the house and over to the car, luckily not all of them were going, or else there would be space for Loki's new motorcycle in the trunk!" And with another goodbye wave, the siblings wave their younger ones off, before driving away.

Mere moments after that, the hunter steps onto the Loud House Property. "Well, well." He whispers as he opens his map, "It seems as if the majority of the anomalies are focused in that house, but the prime anomaly is not present." He turns his map off, before walking towards the house. "No matter, I have a mission to complete. These pesky anomalies will continue to pile up if I do not seal them away."

He easily enters the house, almost as if he were a specter, before making his way up the stairs and quietly entering Linka's room.

"Dimensional viewing goggles, and crude ones at that." He mutters, "Sealing." And with that, another purple light flashes by and the goggles become another silver card.

Then he turns and quietly opens the door to the scientist's room.

"Well, well, what have we here."

Levi turns around in surprise, "What the?!" Levi steps back in fear, "Who are you, and how did you get into our home?!"

"I am a hunter." The man declares. "And I have come to seal you anomalies away."

"Lexx, Leif, help!" Levi frantically shouts, before another flash of purple engulfs his body.

"Worthless child." He whispers, before turning to the crib nearby, "Even this baby is exuding anomalies." For a moment, the man hesitates, as if unsure of whether to continue, "No matter my own feelings, I must continue my mission." Another flash, and Leon is added to the man's collection.

Immediately, Leif and Lexx run into the scientist's room and shout. "Levi what's wrong?!"

Their sight ends up fixed upon the hunter's demonic mask, and immediately the twins respond by raising their duel disks.

"Where's our brother?!" Lexx angrily asks, while Leif continues, "Tell us or we'll blown you away!"

"Duel monsters huh? It's been quite a few dimensions since I have been asked to play this." Then he raises his device, and immediately, a hard-light, sword-shaped blade with a blue boarder appears. "If you win, I'll tell you where he is."

"Ok then, I'll go first!" Leif responds.

 ** _A few moments later…_**

"Two more anomalies sealed." Trevor declares, as he adds the two new cards to his deck.

"What's going on here?!" Lars shouts.

"Well, well, another anomaly, this must be my lucky day." Before the Goth can react, the hunter taps his device again, "Anomaly sealed. Time to collect the remaining anomalies, before it is too late for this and other dimensions."

 ** _Later…_**

"Haha! That was awesome!" Linka declares as she walks out of the card shop, newly won trophy and cards in hand.

"Yeah, those guys were all scrubs!" Luke declares, "They were so easy to beat."

Lane continues, "Yeah, that was too easy!"

"Haha, now come on, let's-"

"Hello there anomalies." The hunter steps forward, before another flash of light goes off. When it dies down, Loni is a silver card in his hand. "Too easy."

"Loni!" the siblings shout. "What did you do to our brother?!"

"The same thing I will do to you and all anomalies, sealed him away." Then, he aims the device and hits the same button again.

Lane immediately reacts by jumping in front of Linka, causing him to end up sealed in the card.

"Loki, Linka, get out of here, we'll hold him off!" Lynn declares, while Luke comes to his side, both activating their duel disks.

"Pathetic, two more of you wish to fight?" The man taunts, "So be it."

"Got it." Loki declares, before pulling the motorcycle from the card trunk, grabbing Linka and riding off.

When the shock wears off, Linka shouts, "Do you think they'll be ok Loki?!"

"Don't worry, they're skilled, and with the ARC system, their attacks will easily knock him down a few notches. Then we'll be able to find out what happened to Loni and Lane!" Loki responds as he swerves to dodge the incoming traffic.

Immediately, the figure speeds passed the duo in a motorbike of his own, it's simple, almost like a police bike, save for the lack of lights and its black coat.

"That was too easy. Two more anomalies sealed." The hunter declares, before riding up to them, "Now would you kindly cease and desist so I can seal you away?"

"Never! We want our siblings back!" Loki answers.

"Pathetic." The man responds, before another flash of light.

Loki immediately reacts to shield Linka from the light, but ends up in the man's hand as a card.

"You're all that's left, now will you come quietly, or do I have to fight you as well?" The hunter taunts. As Linka grabs hold of the bike's handles, "I won't surrender, I want my siblings back!"

"Heh, then you'll have to fight me for them." He declares, "So what challenge do you have for me, I am a member of the Dimensional Anomaly and Time Paradox Enforcement Squadron. I have encountered countless tests similar to anything you can throw at me. And with the guardian of fate and money by my side, nothing can defeat me! I can screw the rules all I want!"

Linka holds on to the bike tightly, before declaring, " I'll duel you in a game of duel monsters!" Immediately, she connects her disk to the receiving port built into the bike's computer. "If I win, you must release my siblings and tell me what's going on!

"Heh, a card game on motorcycles, sounds dangerous. You've peaked my interest. But if I win, I get to seal you away."

Linka nods in agreement. "I am not an anomaly, my name is Linka Loud of dimension 63i apostrophe backslash!"

"Yeah, and I'm Trevor Mcfield, of dimension CX-135."

" ** _Duel Mode detected, autopilot engaged."_** GLaDOS declares, **_"Augmented Reality Combat System engaged!"_**

The disk fields take shape, and the two motorcycles turn and speed down a nearby street.

"Let's duel!" The two shout, before Trevor declares, "I will complete my mission! You will be sealed!"

Linka grimaces, "Why are you doing this?! Why are you after us?!"

"You are an anomaly. The universe is under enormous strain with your continued existence." Then he pulls out a silver card decorated with the goggles, "And with your continued attempts to peer into alternate universes, you have been spreading corruption everywhere!"

"No…" Linka whispers, "That can't be me! I'm just a person trying to get home!"

"You are an anomaly that must be snuffed out!"

"What do you mean, I am not an anomaly!" Linka frantically responds.

Trevor answers, "You do not belong in this dimension! You must be removed and sealed away in order to keep this dimension stable! I will go first!" Then Trevor reveal a monster card, "I will start this duel off by playing DD Swirlal Slime in my hand, and using it and the DD Berfomet in my hand to fusion summon!"

"Oh come on! A fusion summon already?!" Linka goes with an annoyed tone, "No problem, I can handle that."

The blue and green slime ball and beast with two different sized wings appear above Trevor. Before glowing with red and blue light and mixing in a blue and orange vortex. Trevor's voice gains a strong passion as he shouts, "Slime of the dimensions and beast of unusual wings, come together as one in a whirlpool of light! Become one and give birth to a new king! Come forth, Different Dimension Demon Flame King Genghis!"

A massive, fiery warrior appears, its shield and blade soaked red, presumably with the blood of its victims.

"I'm not done yet!" Trevor declares, much to Linka's dismay, "Oh come on!"

"Next I normal summon DD Night Howling!" A weird, mouth-like creature takes to the field, "And I will use it to revive my DD Berfomet!" Immediately, the creature glows with dark energy, before a black portal opens next to it, reviving the unusual beast. "Now I tune my level four Berformet with my level three Night Howling!"

The mouth-like creature jumps up and splits apart into three rings, which engulf the beast.

His voice regains solemnity, "Howls that tear through the night, with the swiftness of a gale, give birth to a new king! I Synchro Summon! Be born, DDD Gale King Alexander!"

With a burst of energy and light, a massive man in white armor appears, his body surrounded by winds.

"Oh no…" Linka whispers, before putting on a determined face and declaring, "No problem! I can still win this!"

"Oh really now? Because I summoned my gale king I can use my flame king to revive a monster! And I choose to revive Berfomet!" The flame king's sword gain a purple hue as the unusual creature returns to the field.

"What's going on?! Where did that come from?!" Linka frantically shouts.

"Finally, I activate Swirlal Slime's graveyard effect. I can banish it to summon a DD monster from my hand, and I choose DD Cerberus!"

The slimeball appears on the field once more, before taking the shape of a warrior-like creature with multiple dog-like heads. "And with Berfomet and cerberous, I build the overlay network!" Trevor declares as the two creatures glow with purple light, before flying into a nearby galaxy-like vortex.

"In order to cleanse this world of all that corrupts it! I Xyz Summon! Descend now, DDD Wave king Caesar!" A small man in jet-black armor carrying a massive blade takes the field next. Two blue orbs fly around his body as if he were the core of an atom.

"And finally, I'll activate the Dark Contract with the Hell Gate, allowing me to add DD Savant Galilei to my hand. And I'll end my turn. Your move anomaly." He coldly declares. "I have been sent to cleanse this world of anomalies, and I will succeed."

"I draw!" Linka declares before sticking her tounge out at trevor, "With scale one Star Gazer Magician and Scale Eight Time Gazer magician I set the pendulum scale!"

Two pillars of light appear next to Linka's motorcycle, with a white-clad magician carrying a rod and shield-like device and the number one under him on her right and a black and brown-clad man with a duel-disk-like device attached to his arm and the number eight under him on her left.

"With this, I pendulum summon! Come forth, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" Linka shouts, as a massive, red dragon with massive horns on its sides and red and green eyes lands on the field.

"Is that the best you've got?" Trevor taunts, "You're the first person I've seen use that, and to be honest, I'm not impressed. I've seen countless anomalies do much better. And I managed to seal them away with ease."

Linka grits her teeth and orders, "Odd-Eyes, attack Flame King Genghis!" And the monster responds by bathing the monster in flames.

"Pathetic!" Trevor declares, "By using one of Caesar's overlay units, I can revive Genghis!" Immediately after the attack is complete, the flame king returns to the field. "Though I will take one thousand damage my next turn."

Linka grits her teeth, "I set one monster, and one card face-down and end my turn."

"You're nothing but a worthless mistake. I have come to prevent the destruction of this and other worlds!" Trevor declares, "I draw! And you will fall this turn!"

"More showing, less telling jerk!"

"I pay the cost for my contracts first!" Trevor declares, before his active spell and wave king burn him for two thousand life points total, bringing his counter down to 5500.

"Next I'll activate my hell gate once more! To add DD Savant Kepler to hand! Next I'll activate pot of greed, letting me draw two cards!" The man glances at the new additions to his supply. "And since I drew another pot, I'll activate it and draw two more cards!" He does so and grins, "Then I play Dark Contract with the swamp king!" He rushes forward, "With this I can fusion summon!"

Linka grits her teeth as Trevor continues, "By banishing the DD Cerberous and Night howler in my grave, I can summon an even greater warrior!"

"Warrior of hell and voice of darkness, come together and be reborn as a true queen! I Fusion Summon! Come forth, ruler who carries the glory of God! DDD, Oracle King D'arc!"

A massive white knight appears on the field, her silver armor glowing in the afternoon light, while her wings are as blue as the night with an inner red, almost like a cape.

"Finally, with scale one DD Savant Galilie and Scale ten DD Savant Kepler, I set the pendulum scale!" Two mechanical pillars arise in columns of light at Trevor's sides, "Appear, supreme deity that passes judgment upon the twilight of the gods! I pendulum summon! DDD Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok!"

A massive king-like monster appears, his body covered in stained gold armor while dark aura flows around him and the chair he sits in.

"It is over, you will take too much damage to continue!" Trevor declares.

"But I'll have Life-points left!" Linka desperately cries.

"No matter, you will be too injured to continue, and I will be able to seal you away once and for all!"

Linka grits her teeth once more.

"I attack! Oracle King D'arc, destroy Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

Immediately, the warrior lady flies up and impales the mighty dragon, causing it to explode in a cloud of fire. Causing Linka's counter to decrease to 7700.

"Genghis, destroy the face down!" He declares, and the fiery warrior jumps up and impales the face down, destroying the poor monster.

Finally, he points at Linka, "Wave king and gale king, attack her directly!"

With two stabs, Linka's counter falls to 2800. "She holds her now bleeding arm while ignoring the cut on her cheek.

"Now go my oblivion king! Finish this anomaly off! So I may seal her away with the rest of her worthless siblings!"

A massive orb of light appears under the massive monster, before it fires a stream of light at the young girl, "Who can only grit her teeth as she waits for impact.

"No!" Familiar voices shout.

"You're not going to hurt our sister!"

"Over our dead bodies!"

"He's our brother!"

"And our sister!"

Immediately, all of the siblings, both male and female appear by Linka's sides, before shouting in unison, "And we will never let her be harmed!"

And with that, the monster's attack hits the figures and dissipates.

"What's happening?!" Trevor shouts as he watches Linka's counter fall to 600, yet the girl is still riding strong, "H-how is this possible?! You should be a burning wreck that I can seal! What's going on?!"

Linka gains a defiant look in her eyes as she declares, "My siblings protected me! Both here and back home!"

"Grr, no matter! I play pot of greed again!" Trevor quickly declares, "I draw two cards, then play twin twister! By discarding the card I just drew I can destroy your pendulum scales!" The twin twisters rise up and destroy the two magicians, leaving Linka's field almost completely empty.

"You may be a hunter, but I am no anomaly!" Linka declares, her body begins to glow with blue and pink light.

"Yes you are! You pathetic little creature should not exist in this universe!"

Linka's face gains a determination only shown by anime protagonists, "I will not give up, not now, not ever! For my family, for my home, I will defeat you!"

Trevor grits his teeth, "I hate you."

"My name is Lincoln Loud of dimension C-137! Even if I'm not in my own dimension and not in my own body, I will not abandon my siblings!"

Thousands of memories fill the young girl's mind, of the great times she had had with her true sisters, while her heart fills with the hope of adventure she is sure to have with her new brothers. "I will find my way home one day! But right now, fate has brought me to this dimension for a reason! And I will not disappoint!"

Linka's next card glows with golden energy, as if the spirits of all of her siblings and dimensional counterparts are focusing their power through it.

"For my siblings, I will defeat you! I am not an anomaly! I am Lincoln Loud! I draw!"

Immediately the glowing card materializes, revealing a green card decorated with two men dancing in a rain of coins. "I play, Card Of Sanctity! With it we both draw until we have six cards in hand!"

Trevor smiles, "You've gone mad, giving me so many resources to work with!"

"It won't matter." Linka declares, "Because I'll defeat you this turn!" Her heart races faster as she turns the motorcycle down a nearby road and rushes down it, Trevor's motorcycle is barely able to keep up!

"Next I play the spell Pendulum Call!" Linka declares, before shoving the green card in her disk, "By sending Noble Dragon Magician in my hand to the grave, I can add two pendulum monsters from my hand!" Linka's expression turns fierce for a moment, "And I choose Chronograph Magician and Astrograph Magician!"

Immediately, the deck spits out the two cards, and Linka continues, "And now with scale eight Chronograph Magician and scale one Astrograph Magician, I set the pendulum scale!"

Linka quickly places the two cards at opposing ends of the hard light disk and the ARC system responds by projecting two pillars of light, in which the two magicians rise.

On Linka's let is a starry blue magician, his body is made of energy and outlined with hardlight. He wields an energy rod with an energy shield attached. The number one is below him.

On her right is a warrior-like man, with a golden, double-edged sword that has two energy rings at the end. He wears black arm and radiates with dark power. The number eight is below him.

Between them, a blue crystal held up by a single string appears, with a small ball of energy appearing at its pointed end.

The young girl holds on tightly, before hardening her expression, "My monsters are ready, and together we'll defeat you and free my siblings! Oh power of the dimensions, of light and darkness, reveal the truth to me! I pendulum summon!"

The massive pendulum gains momentum, before swinging faster and faster in a circular motion, opening a portal from which four lights fly through. "I summon Wisdom-Eyes Magician, Xiangsheng Magician!" The sorcerer and sorceress take to the field, the man holding a pendulum-like rod and the woman carrying a bow and arrow.

Then, her voice gains a powerful solemnity, "And come forth, dragons with beautiful and wondrous dichromatic eyes! I summon Odd-Eyes Saber Dragon and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" And with that the two dragons take to the field.

The saber dragon spreads out is silvery armor before roaring with the pendulum dragon.

Trevor grimaces, "No matter how many monsters you summon, none will be able to defeat me! I have five monsters and they are all able to withstand whatever you throw at me!"

Yet, Linka's determined expression does not waver. "I activate Noble Dragon magician's effect! By lowering Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's level by three, I can summon it!" The small magician appears by the much larger dragon, "And I'll use her to tune my Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" Immediately, the small magician splits apart into three rings, which engulf the dragon, turning it into four stars.

"Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings and strike down our enemies at the speed of light! I Synchro summon Clear Wing Synchro dragon!" the second dragon takes to the field, its four translucent wings bathing the battlefield in light.

Trevor grimaces, "Oh come on! That's not fair!"

"Fair?" Linka angrily mutters, "You sealed my siblings in cards! Even the ones that could not fight back!"

"Next, I use Wisdom-Eye Magician and Xiangsheng Magician to build the overlay network!" The two magicians glow bright yellow, before the resulting orbs fly into a mini-black hole, which proceeds to burst forth. "Cloaked in shadows and relentless in its objective, rise up against your foolish oppressors! Descend now! I Xyz summon, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"

"Impossible! No anomaly has managed to summon him before!" Trevor nervously shouts.

"That's because I am no anomaly! Also, he's not Exodia you idiot! Now I use the polymerization I set earlier to fuse the two monsters in my hand!" Linka declares, before revealing the spell. Immediately, the two monsters appear above Linka, before they become orbs and spin in a vortex, "Beautiful flowers that tempt insects with your enchanting fragrance, become one now and let the hell locked within your petals give birth to a new menace! I fusion summon, Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!"

And with that, the forth dimensional dragon descends to the field.

"Pathetic!" Trevor taunts, "Even with all of those moves, none are able to overcome my monsters!"

Yet, Linka responds, "I still have one card face-down! And I activate it!" she reveals the final card, "I play card of demise! With it I can draw until I have 5 cards in hand, however I must discard them at the end of my turn and I cannot draw anymore cards!"

She draws her five cards with fear and determination flowing through her veins. And with a single glance, she smiles.

"I'll continue by playing tuning magician! If I have two cards in my pendulum scales, I can spell summon them to the field! Come forth my magician!" The young girl with a tuning fork appears on the field, "I take four hundred damage when she is summoned however!" Linka's counter falls to 200. "And now, by using her and Clear Wing, I can Synchro summon again! I tune my level seven Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and level one Tuning magician!"

The female magician jumps up and splits into a single ring, which engulfs the beautiful dragon, turning it into seven stars.

Linka holds onto the motorcycle tightly as she declares, "Bathe in holy light and make your wings shine! Destroy your enemies with your burning radiance! I Synchro Summon, Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon!" A majestic dragon with arrow-shaped glass-like wings takes to the field in Clear Wing's place.

"Next I activate Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon's effect! By using two overlay units I can halve your monster's attack points! And I choose, your Gust King Alexander!" The monster's wings fill with electricity, before it uses its electric grip to overpower Trevor's monster and weaken it, lowering its attack to 1250.

"No! Impossible! This should not be happening!" Trevor tries to speed up, passed Linka in desperate bid to leave; yet the four dragons surround him.

"Next I'll activate The Phantom Knight's Rank-Up-Magic Launch!" A shadowy mist engulfs the dark dragon, causing it to crystalize for a moment.

"From the depths of purgatory, sing the song of rebellion dedicated to the souls of the restless! Let it echo as you appear! Rank-up Xyz Evolution! For the souls of my siblings and for everyone you have sealed away, I play this requiem, a requiem for the louds! Come forth, Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon!"

A massive black dragon with beautiful, stained-glass-like wings appears in dark rebellion's place. Its body gains bone-like armor and metallic claws, while its wings become massive, accommodating their beautiful patterns.

Trevor sits in awe of the majestic dragon's beautiful wings, "No, I will not let myself be distracted! You must fail! The guardian of fate wills my victory!"

"Hmph" Link responds, her voice gaining even more momentum, "Then did he will this?! I play a second Polymerization, fusing my Starve Venom Fusion Dragon with the pedaplant in my hand! The plant-like dragon flies over and the dark weed appear above Linka, before they both enter another blue and orange vortex, as she shouts, "Poisonous dragon with venomous fangs, and sweet smelling flowers that invite the abyss! Become one and indulge on whatever pleases you! I fusion summon, Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon!"

Another massive dragon appears, its green body pulses with blue lights while multiple red and yellow orbs attach themselves to its body. Its wings become more plant-like and set ablaze as it descends to the field."

Trevor pauses for a moment, before chuckling, "Pathetic, even with all of that moxie and work, you still have nothing to stop me!"

"Oh yeah?! That's what you think! I activate my monster's effects!"

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm about to have a bad time?"

"First, I use Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon's effect! By using an overlay unit I can zero out one of you monster's attack power and it gains the same amount!" The majestic, dark dragon uses its Stained-glass-like wings to engulf Wave King Caesar, zeroing out its attack, while its attack counter rises to 5400."

Trevor just holds on tighter as Linka continues.

"Next, Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon Will do the same thing to Oracle King D'arc! Zeroing out hero attack and negating her effects, though without an attack gain!"

"No… This can't be?!"

Linka's final card in hand glows with power. "After I summon the upgraded versions of the dimensional dragons and use at least two of their effects, I can summon this card!"

Linka's voice gains a powerful solemnity as all twenty of her siblings appear, and raise their voices in unison, "Power of light and the bonds of my siblings. Rise up from obscurity, and become a beacon of true hope." Then, determination fills her eyes, "Come forth and become the light home! Come forth, Shining Hope Pendulum Dragon!"

The Loud child glow with golden light, before combining into a single majestic dragon. Its two golden wings glow like stained glass, while its body is covered in golden armor. It has a strong, silvery gaze and massive iron-like horns around its body. It has a powerful orb of energy embedded in its chest plate, fueling its armor and giving it blue lines of energy. Around the dragon are massive sword-like spike floating in mid-air, as if in orbit around the dragon."Whoa…" Trevor whispers, before saying aloud, "No matter! There is nothing you can do to-"

"Would you can the taunts?!" Linka declares, "After Shining hope is summoned, you cannot use cards or effects for the rest of the turn and it gains attack equal to your current life points!" The new dragon's attack rises to 5500 points.

"Crap…" Trevor's once radiant expression turns sullen, as Linka turns and drifts her motorcycle along, "Prepare to attack! Go my five dragons!"

The five monsters fly up, readying for the command.

"For my youngest siblings, whom you sealed in cards for no reason! For Levi and Leon! For Lisa and Lily! Go, Spiral Saber Flame Strike!" Linka commands, and Odd-Eyes Saber Dragon complies by firing a massive burst of flames from its mouth. Bathing the Oblivion King with golden flames. "And when it destroys a monster, it can destroy another! And I choose your flame king!" Saber dragon responds by charging and destroying the Flame King Genghis.

Trevor's counter falls to 4900.

"Grr." he groans as he desperately spins his bike around, trying to regain control.

"Next for my twin siblings, whom you sealed in cards because they tried to save them! For Leif and Lexx! For Lana and Lola! Crystallos Edge of Gale!" Immediately, Crystal Wing roars, before flying up, engulfing itself in light and flying down, piercing his the gale king monster. "And when it attacks a level five or higher monster, it gains its attack!"

"Oh no…" Trevor whispers as his monster is destroyed, and his counter falls to 1900.

Then, she points at Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon, "For my middle siblings, with whom you sealed in cards for trying to protect me and for no reason! For Lynn and Lucy, for Lynn and Lars! Feel their wrath! Go, Beautiful Flower Hellfire!" And with that, Greedy Venom's orbs of powers glow, before bathing the Oracle King in flames, just as the saint she is based after was.

Trevor's counter falls to zero, but his motorcycle doesn't stop, and Linka continues, "This is my requiem for my family, in this and in my true dimension! I will never abandon them and they will never abandon me! For Luke and Lane and Luna and Luan! Requiem Salvation Strike! Sing the requiem for the louds!" Immediately, the dragon's hard-light wings take shape once more and fill with energy, creating a beautiful stained glass effect. And with that, the dragon dives and charges, destroying the wave king monster and almost causing him to crash.

Yet, the duel is still not over.

"Finally, Shining Hope, take hold of your power over time and space, over reality!" The dragon glows with a mystical aura in response, "For my eldest siblings, whom guided and loved me, no matter what dimension I was in, for them, and for all of my siblings, I defeat you! For Loki and Loni! For Lori and Leni! Dimensional Gear Breaker!" And with that, the dragon charges absorbs power from parts unknown, before dealing the finishing blow on the hunter, causing his motorcycle to explode, sending him crashing.

Linka pants in exhaustion as she drives over to the now defeated hunter.

"I win, now release my family." She demands.

Trevor stands up, "I- I lost… to an anomaly… the guardian of fate has forsaken me." He growls in response, before talking into his device. "Unit has failed, unsealing captured anomalies." Then he drops hundreds of random cards on the ground, before continuing, "Unit has failed mission. Preparing for termination…"

"Wait… What?!" Linka shouts in fear.

"Anomalies released, mission is a failure. Dispatch units to the following dimensions, C-137, EVL-234, XD-119, YZ-85, 46 apostrophe backslash and 63i apostrophe backslash."

" ** _We copy, units being sent."_**

"This is not over, you anomalies." He coldly declares, before he turns his device towards himself, "Wait!" Linka desperately shouts, but it is too late.

Trevor's card falls into her hands. "I needed answers… I want to go home…" All that is left behind is the weird device.

After a few seconds, the hundreds of the cards start to float, before flying off and disappearing, leaving the only ten behind, "Those must've been from the other dimensions…" Linka whispers.

After that, the remaining cards disperse, revealing Linka's ten brothers.

"Ugh what happened?" Loki groans.

" _Quick, think fast Lincoln!"_ Linka then answers, "You guys had some crazy fun duels! Leon the others came by too! You all ended up passed out!"

"Now let's go home!" She shouts, before the brothers even have a chance to think about what she was saying.

So they shrug, as if oddly ok with the idea, before walking back home with her.

 ** _Later the night…_**

Linka sits before the open journal, it took her a few minutes to get caught up once and for all, but she cannot help but shake how familiar her life felt to his. Though, given that they were counterparts, it couldn't help but be expected. She looks upon her dimensional goggles and watch, as well as Trevor's weird device, the only items that could possibly connect her to her home dimension, and sighs.

"No comics, few friends, so many rules… It's like Mom and Dad are worried that Linka is going to be masculine…" The young girl whispers, "I wonder why that is…"

Then, she turns to a blank page. For a moment, she hesitates, unsure of what to do.

Then, she grabs a pen and begins journaling.

"My name is Lincoln Loud… And from now on, I will be writing in this journal…"

We all know, things just became more complicated.

23-8-15 11-14-5-23 20-8-1-20 3-1-18-4 7-1-13-5-19 15-14 13-15-20-15-18-3-25-3-12-5-19 3-15-21-12-4 7-5-20 19-15 19-5-18-9-15-21-19? 9 23-15-14-4-5-18 23-8-15 3-1-14 7-21-5-19-19 23-8-1-20 19-20-15-18-25 9-19 14-5-24-20.

 **A/N And with that, this collection's first arc is complete! Man, this was the longest one-shot so far (Over 9200 words!). I hope you guys enjoyed the longest one-shot! As always, leave a story prompt you'd like to see done! I thank Exotos135 for helping out!**

 **Another thing, I made up 1 card, I wonder if someone can figure out which it is.**

 **Also, if you read my other story, "Unwavering Bonds" it will be on hiatus until April 14th, 2017. I hope you guys enjoy! And "The Broken House" will be on hiatus until "Life's" Choices is complete and I have rewritten the first chapters! I thank the person who featured it on TvTropes and gave it its own page!**


	6. Secrets And Friendly Fun

**Hey Guys, I'm back! I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!**

 **So, apparently people didn't like the last story as much as I'd hoped, oh well! The exposition arc is done, and now I move onto revelations!**

 **As always, R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Lincoln talks about what it's like to be in Linka's body and Claudia's revelation. "**_ _ **I love it. Can you do a chapter where Linka explains how she handles living with 10 brothers?" (First prompt requested by Alex Rodriguez, second was planned)**_

Story Six: Secrets And Friendly Fun

"Wow, that feels so weird to write down." Linka whispers, her soft feminine voice barely louder than the pencil she writes with. "I don't know why I'm even bothering to write in here… then again, I can't talk about this stuff with Linka's brothers, even if they're just like my sisters, they'd go crazy!"

"It's interesting, Linka's life is so similar to my own, but so different at the same time." The young Loud leans back, letting the hardwood chair support her weight, "Heh, it's funny really. It's only been about two weeks since I've arrived, and so far I've ended up chased by my dog brothers, starred in a play, saw other universes, played card games on motorcycles and got caught up in a lemonade war with the most dreamy… kind… handsome boy I've ever met." Linka blushes.

Her body begins to feel shaky at the mere thought of him, "His name is Ron Andy. He's so strong and nice and…"

" _What the heck is wrong with you Lincoln?!"_ The young girl shakes her head and just stares at the page in surprise, _"You know what…"_ Linka thinks, before turning the page and writing the date down, _"I think I'll just start a new entry."_

"My name is Lincoln Loud, and for lack of better phrasing, I am a boy trapped in a girl's body!" He declares, before quickly checking his room and taking a deep breath, "It's a good thing that nearly everything's the same around here, that means that my room is the only one with thick walls. Meaning I can say and do whatever I need to!"

Linka thinks for a moment, before she writes, "So, I haven't told anyone this yet, but it really feels weird not having something dangling between my legs, but hey, I guess it comes with the territory." She chuckles, _"Heh, you've still got it Lincoln."_

"Besides, if I have learned anything from my visit to the, what I have dubbed the 'Eleven Boys' dimension, if I had a choice between being a girl with ten brothers or a boy with ten brothers, I'd pick the girl option. Here, Linka's brothers or way more open to me for some reason. It's strange, I always thought that my sisters were open to me, you know, cause they didn't have to worry."

She smiles again and continues writing, "Turns out that they have way more girl problems than my sisters did with boys. Ain't that funny? And guess who they always end up coming to for talks! Though, I don't think I can help much, cause not really girl."

"Lori's advice really helped, it's a good thing she told me everything she could during the night I couldn't sleep."

"These guys are crazy about everything though! While on the surface they seem more calm then my sisters, they are much more prone to danger! Though, at least they're not all like Lynn. It seems like having a girl to balance them out gave them a reason to have distinct personalities."

"Still, the hive mind doesn't stop!" Linka's mind goes red before she writes her next thought, "Despite the face that my walls block out most noises, they don't do much to muffle the… slapping sounds that start at 11 o'clock EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what the boys were doing."

She then sighs defeated, "Though, I really can't say much else bad about Linka's brothers. They're kind to me and are more respectful towards mom and dad. I guess when a girl came into the picture the boys decided that they had to clean up their act." She chuckles, "Who would've guessed."

Linka then leans back and taps her lip with her pencil and whispers with closed eyes and a nostalgic tone, "As for the brothers individually, they really seem to change things up, almost as if dimension 63i'\ isn't a perfect gender swap of dimension C-137."

"For one Loki is just like Lori. For one, they're both mature, for two, they're both dating their version of Bobby (Bebe here) and for three, they literally can't stop misusing the word "Literally". And while they both really cared about me, I feel like Loki cares much more for me here than Lori… I guess it's the big brother instinct."

She chuckles again, "But Loni? He's just like Leni! They're both naïve and a bit on the dumber side, but if I had to choose, I'd say Leni is way more kind, just cause she has that motherly tone behind her."

"The same can't be said for Luke though. While Luna back home was way chiller and nicer overall, Luke here seems to be tougher, so much so that I think Loki sees him as a second-in-command! Lori always treated Luna as just another annoying sibling…" Then another thought comes to mind, "Oh, and Luke's music takes on a more metal feel, versus Luna's more soft rock take. Personally, I prefer Luna's."

"After Luke comes Lane, Luan's counterpart… and so far, it seems like he has no restrictions. I may have only been here for less than two weeks, but so far he's told like… 69 sex-related jokes! (Note: I actually counted. That's not a joke!) Seriously! After he beat me at a video game he told me, and I quote, "If I didn't know any better, I'd tell you to learn how to suck before you blow!" That's the worst pun I've heard him say so far!"

Then Linka whispers, "It really grinds my gears when I hear him say those types of jokes…" Before the realization hits her, _"Link, what's going on with you?! You've never felt offended by those types of jokes before!"_

She takes a deep breath and whispers, "It's probably nothing." Before returning to writing, "After Lane comes Lynn, and so far he seems the most distant from me. It's almost like he's trying to hide something big. I wish I could find out though… close to two weeks and I really haven't talked to him that much, whereas my sister Lynn would've Dutch Ovened me like twenty times!"

"Oh that's another thing, unlike the 11B dimension, I don't get involved in Dutch Ovens… though the dog piles on dad are a different story. Don't judge me, but I actually like hanging out with my bros like I'm just one of the guys."

Linka shakes her head, as if unsure of that thought.

"Anyways moving on, Lars is the resident Lucy. Dark coat, dreary personality, sleeps in a padded coffin? He's the Goth one all right. Interestingly enough, he seems to be the one who spends the most time around Linka. Oh and instead of poetry writing, Lars seems to write really dark and depressing stories. He seems like the type to write a story of unrequited love while mixing a dying cancer patient into the mix!"

"Now the twins. Surprisingly enough, they're much more tolerable then Lana and Lola. Don't get me wrong, they're still really annoying and stuff, but I can't help but just feel relieved that they go out on each other as much as they do."

So, Lana's counterpart is Leif, and I have to say that he seems way more open to playing in the mud then Lana. Oh, and between you and me, I haven't seen him change out of those overalls since I arrived… He also doesn't seem to wear a shirt under those… or underwear for that matter. At least Lana had a limit to mud playing! That kid has no shame."

"As for Lola, she has Lexx. And the first thing I have to admit is that he's nowhere near as scary as Lola. Don't get me wrong, he's just as crazy, he does some pretty messed up things to get what he wants, but he just doesn't go as far as she would." The young girl thinks about the blackmail he used on her to make her perform for him, "Well, at least he was only doing it to impress a girl, who by the way looks exactly like Lana!"

"I wonder if she's an anomaly…" Linka whispers.

"I wonder what would happen if Lola has a boy she's trying to impress as well and if the same thing happened back home…" She writes, _"Home…"_ Tears flow down her cheeks, before she quietly wipes them, _"I miss them so much. I really need to get back to work finding them again."_

"Also, apparently Lexx is an actor here. I guess it makes sense though, since there aren't as many beauty contests for boys as girls. I just hope that the harsh realities of Hollywood reveal themselves to him before it's too late."

"Next is Levi, Lisa's counterpart here. While he doesn't seem to be as observant as Lisa, but by what I've seen, more prone to reckless behavior. Case and point, he built a hard-light projector in the backyard just so the brothers could play a card game and actually feel the attacks coming their way. Though Lisa experimented with super acids with Lily a few feet away... So I'm not sure."

"Speaking of Lily, surprisingly enough her counterpart is different as well! Leon is more prone to crazy behavior, leading to our mom having to hold him constantly! Seriously, I've never seen him not under someone's watch!"

With that written, Linka turns to her next blank page.

The young girl then sighs, "Then, I guess it's me next. My name is Lincoln Loud, and again, I am currently a boy trapped in a girl's body. I love comic books, action figures, video games and duel monsters, so I had assumed Linka did too, but I was wrong."

"Apparently, mom and dad have been grooming Linka to be the ideal girly girl here, to the point where I fear that my out of character behavior to her has begun arousing suspicions. I'm afraid that soon, our brothers will find out the truth."

She then turns and gazes out into the star-swept sky, before letting her eyes fall upon the weird, shield-like device Trevor had left behind, as well as the man's card. "And with these dimensional anomalies coupled with that fact, I'm worried that I'll never get home.

Then she sighs once more, "But at least things should be quiet for now It took Trevor more than a week to find me, probably at least, so that might be how long I have till the next hunter comes."

With a nostalgic smile she writes, "So what's life with ten brothers like? Well for one, unlike the reality where we were all boys, I'm not insulted as often. Probably because they don't want to offend Linka, though Lane is the only exception. It's unusual, but it takes a load off. Living with ten judgmental sisters gives you thick skin though."

"Another is that there's always someone who wants to listen to my problems, especially Loki, it's almost like Lori's 'no one can enter my room' rule doesn't apply to me here!"

She then taps her lip with the pen again, "Plus, the boys really want to spend way more time with me, heck, Lexx, Lynn, Loki, Loni, Lane and Luke have all come to me for girl advice so far! None of my sisters ever asked for boy advice."

"Another thing is the bathroom situation, with ten girls back home, the lines were rough! (After all, girls take forever in the bathroom) but the boys here, save for Lexx because reasons, take very little time to do their business. On the flip side though, I've had to learn how to put make up on and clean myself as a girl... Good thing I helped Lola and Lana get ready for their pageants. Also, surprisingly enough the bathroom is clean; it even lacks the hole in the floor! Now it's a latch that we can open for reloads, and you wouldn't know how useful that is."

"The house is still falling apart of course, but with ten boys, mom and dad seem eager to put them to work. That brings me to some of the downsides, for one the smell."

Linka cringes as her face scrunches up, "Turns out that Linka has a better sense of smell than me... that or she couldn't handle it either because I found a small, but really thick, blanket on her bed. Turns out that her current blankets were really warm, so I didn't understand why she'd bring the comforter, until I realized that by sliding it under the door it can block out all of the smells and wouldn't you know it, these guys stink! They sweat like dogs and don't shower as often as they should, except for Loki and Lexx of course."

"By the way, back home I threw the garbage as my chore, here I have to do the laundry. Why? Because I'm apparently the only one who won't bleach everything. I was also warned not to let Lane near the hydrogen peroxide... I don't know why though."

Linka cringes again, "You wouldn't believe how disgusting boy's laundry can be." Before shivering. "No wonder Lori hates her chore. Though I don't think it is as horrible, ten girls and one boy can't be that bad!"

"That reminds me, Clyde has a female counterpart here too! Her name is Claudia and apparently here she has two moms and a crush on Loki... just like Clyde had two dads and a crush on Lori."

"There's really not much to say except that she's just like Clyde, loyal, friendly, all that stuff."

"Linka! Come help with dinner!" Rita shouts.

"Coming mom!" Linka responds, before closing the diary and walking away from the table.

Only for her walkie-talkie to buzz to life, "Linka, come in, it's important."

The young girl grabs the device and responds, "Yeah, I read ya loud and clear Claudia."

"Would you mind hanging out tomorrow? I really want to see you." Her voice sounds worried.

"Sure Claudia." Linka responds, "I'll see ya tomorrow!"

"R-really?!" Claudia nervously responds, "Awesome!" Before the walkie-talkie goes silent.

"Huh." Linka quips, "I wonder what that was about." And with that, she stands up and heads downstairs for dinner.

 _ **The Next Day…**_

"K guys, I'm headed to the mall with Claudia! Don't wait up!" Linka declares as she slides down the stairs, clutching an orange purse. _"Wow, it feels weird not having pockets."_

"See ya later Linka!" Loki continues tapping away at his phone.

While Lexx shouts, "Have fun at the mall! See ya later!"

" _Huh, weird."_ Linka thinks, before stepping out of the home and heading off on her way.

*Slam* the front door goes, before Lexx turns and runs up the stairs. "Ok Levi, Linka's gone. Where's Lars?" he asks as he rushes into the four-year-old's room.

"I'm right here." The Goth declares as he appears, startling the two boys.

After regaining their bearings, Levi adjusts his glasses and says, "Ok siblings, we must go and find out what is wrong with our sister."

The two nod, before following the young scientist into their lone sister's room.

"Ok you two, we must search this room for-"

"Yo Levi, I found her diary." Lexx declares as he pulls the pink book from under the bed. "That was way easier than I expected. I expected Linka to hide it way better"

Levi thinks for a moment, before taking the diary in his hands, "Ok, let's read the entries."

Then, with his two older brothers standing behind him, he reads aloud, "June 18th... Today I met the most handsome boy, his name was Ron Andy. He picks on me in public, but when we're alone we get really intimate."

Levi's face goes red, almost as if he has thought of something that would cause many his age to look on in confusion, _"Could she have… gone_ _ **that**_ _far?"_

"Yo Levi, what's wrong?" Lars asks, before Levi shakes his head. "Nothing brother, let's read on shall we?"

The young scientist skips the next few pages, "October 26th, I feel weird, my body aches and I woke up with a pool of blood around my crotch… I hope mom knows what's going on with me. She mentioned that I was reaching 'that age'."

" _Huh, it's almost that time of the month."_

Without another word, Levi flips away from that page and lands on the next, "Ok today… My name is Lincoln Loud and again, I am a boy trapped in a girl's body-"

"Yo bro's what are you doing in Linka's room?"

Immediately, the three brothers turn and face Lynn, who just stares at them in disappointment. "You guys are so lucky Linka's not home, she'd probably turn you into human pretzels for reading her diary."

Then, he steps over and grabs the light book from Levi's hands, "Now, go away, I have to re-hide this before Linka comes home. You're so lucky I can keep a secret."

The trio nods, before rushing into Levi's nearby room.

They pant for a second, before the scientist adjusts himself and declares, "Brothers, I think I have figured out why Linka has been acting so unusually since she had that dream a few days ago."

"Why bro?" Lexx asks, tilting his head in confusion, "What could you have possibly found from just a few diary entries?"

"Apparently Linka calls herself Lincoln in private and speaks about being a boy trapped in a girl's body. These are phrases usually associated with Gender Dysphoria."

Both Lars and Lexx look at him in confusion, "In layman's terms, our sister may rather want to be our brother."

"Oh… I still don't get it." Lexx responds.

And Lars answers, "Linka wants to be a boy."

"So what will we do?!" Lexx shouts. Levi responds by putting his mouth on the older boy's mouth, "We lay low for now and just act accepting. We need to make her… him… them comfortable until they're willing to reveal the truth, do you two understand that?!"

Lars then nods, before standing up and walking over to the door, "Will do. I might add a character like that to my newest story. It's about a young boy accidently getting involved in a mafia ring and he has to hide the secret from his numerous sisters. I'm still flushing out the details, maybe I'll make the mafia leader a male to female transgender to make Linka comfortable…"

And when he opens the door, their six older brothers are waiting, all with anger engulfing their expressions.

"Well crud." Lexx whispers.

"There you are!" Loki shouts.

"You've got some explaining to do!" Luke angrily declares.

Immediately Lexx throws his hands up in surrender, "We're sorry we went through Linka's diary!"

"That's not what we're in here for!" Lane shouts in response, before the brothers pull out their damaged belongings, "Lexx! Why'd you use our stuff to unclog the toilet again?! You know that that's not how it works!"

A beat of stunned silence follows.

"Wait..." Loni whispers, "You went through Linka's diary?!"

Luke coldly adds, "Have you no decency?"

"Uhh, we can explain?" Levi nervously responds.

"Then go explain." Leif angrily declares, while crossing his arms, "What could have been so important that you invaded your sister's privacy to find out."

Levi then pulls out a chart and a laser pointer, "We went through her diary in hopes that we could find out an explanation for her latest unusual behavior."

Loki grabs the bridge of his nose in annoyance; "It's probably that time of the month again."

"On the contrary dear brother." Levi then flips the board over. "If that were the case, we would have heard the washer running on maximum this or previous mornings, and an increase of feminine products in the family wash room."

Luke steps over, "And? So what? Linka could've just thrown that stuff away when no one was looking, after all, some of the things she does just doesn't make sense to us, remember?"

The young scientist the flips the board again, somehow changing what was drawn before to two lists. "Let me make my point then. About a week and a half ago she had a dream where she was a boy and you guys didn't care about her much."

He turns to the chart and starts filling in the side labeled, "Behavior Before."

"Before she had that dream our sister was, for lack of a better term, an all-around girly girl. She behaved in a manner our parents deemed 'respectable' and as a result, faced little scrutiny from all of us."

"So? Our parents wanted their only daughter to be someone who could balance out her ten brothers?" Loki cuts in, "It's not like she has changed _that_ much?"

Levi adjusts his glasses, and continues in a commanding voice, "That is what I thought. Taking the paper route job with little hesitation is not something she would do however."

"Maybe she wanted to make some money on the side." Luke shrugs, "Didn't she mention she wanted a new set of shoes last week?"

Lexx then cuts in, "After that, I found her reading a comic book in nothing but her underwear, it was really weird!"

Lane glares at his little brother, "You caught Linka trying to have some alone time! It's what all girls want ya know, or else they'll end up ovary-acting to everything!"

Luke proceeds to hit him upside the head, "Lane, it wasn't funny before, it's not funny now."

"That is interesting. Linka has always hated comic books... Or should I say, never read them as our parents decided that they were a bad influence on her." Lynn cuts in, "Though maybe she just wanted to see what the fuss was about?"

Then he writes in the, "Behavior After." Column, filling it in with, "Now reads comics in her underwear."

"Moving on, after the play Lexx made us participate in, Linka came to me asking about Everett's interpretation of quantum mechanics."

The brothers just stare at him cluelessly.

"The Many World's Theory. About alternate dimensions and the like." Levi quickly flips the board to a branch diagram of the idea. "This is what I mean."

"Ok, and?" Leif goes in annoyance, "What does that have to do with our sister?"

He adjusts his glasses once more, before flipping the board back and writing, "Not too science-y" in the before column and "Very science-y" in the after column. "After that, our sister came to me and asked me to make a set of goggles that could view alternate worlds. Leading to the lemonade stand war we had to participate in."

"I still don't get where you're aim for." Loni declares.

"Then yesterday she seemed really eager to play duel monsters with you guys." Levi continues writing.

"Yeah." Lynn declares, "It's a fun game and there are quite a few female players."

"She played it before and hated it remember?" Lexx responds and then Lars speaks up, "She also became interested in deciphering her dreams. She came to me looking for my interpretation."

"Yes, and finally today, we found out that she calls herself, 'Lincoln' and describes herself as 'A boy trapped in a girl's body'."

"You don't think..." Luke starts.

"Could she be... Our sister? Really?" Lane goes in shock.

Levi just nods.

"Well then." Loki goes, "Until we know for sure, we have to be as accepting as possible for Linka... Or Lincoln. Got it guys?"

The Loud brothers nod and Loki continues, "And don't go in her room again, that's her private space for a reason."

"You all know what happens if you enter my room without permission." The young man glares at his younger siblings, "don't you dare do the same to her again, or else you will find out what it's like to be a human pretzel."

The boys fearfully nod in agreement.

"Also Lexx," Loki goes, catching the young boy's attention, "you have to replace our stuff. Why the heck did you use our stuff to unclog a toilet?!"

Lexx shrugs, "I thought it would work this time." His brothers face palm, before stepping out of the room.

"Ok." Levi says, "Lexx, you follow Linka to the mall. I want you to take note of anything strange that they do, got that?"

"But why me?" Lexx whines.

"Because you were dumb enough to try an unclog a toilet with our things, now you have to use the money you made with your last acting job to replace them all."

Lexx sighs in defeat, "Fine." And with that, the young boy walks out of the room.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Ok Lincoln, this is the first time you're going to be actively hanging out with your best friend here. So what if he's a girl here? Everything is going be just fine." The young girl adjusts her blue skirt and orange blouse, as well as her orange bow, white hair and bag.

For a few moments, she stands in front of their meeting place, the school, and takes a deep breath. "Ok Lincoln, here we go. You're Linka Loud, Claudia McBride's best friend."

And with that, she steps into the building. "I wonder why she decided that this would be a good place to meet up. After all, school's out for Thanksgiving Break... Isn't it?"

"Well, here it is, room A113" Linka declares before opening the door and stepping inside, revealing Claudia sitting alone at one of the science lab tables.

"Mornin' Claudia." Linka greets, "What are you doing here all by your lonesome? It's break time!"

She moves away from the computer and responds, "I was just working on an animation for YouTube. Remember, I use the computers here?"

"Oh right…" Linka awkwardly goes, "So what did you work on today?"

Claudia motions for her to come over to the monitor, revealing a hot dog flying into a bun... Rather suggestively to boot!

"Uhh, why'd you make this?"

The girl thinks for a moment, "I guess I'm just hungry. I haven't eaten all day."

"Why's that? I thought your da-moms! Made sure that you never left home hungry?"

Claudia awkwardly runs the back of her head. "I sort of just ran out of my house without eating..."

"Why?"

"I wanted to think about something... And I asked you to meet me here because..." Claudia's face goes flush in embarrassment before she continues, "It's a great place to have privacy and stuff... To talk about girl things and stuff."

"Huh, ok then." Linka tilts her head in curiosity. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"Linka... We've known each other for a while now and-"

"Hey, there you two are." A young boy walks into the room, wearing a familiar purple sweater and blue jeans, "I heard you two were going to meet here and since my sister is apparently doing 'intimate' things with Loki, I decided that it would be a good idea to just hang out with the lovely ladies in my life."

Linka smiles, "Sure Ron Andy!" While thinking, _"I wonder why that felt so… natural. Like I wanted to invite him."_

"Cool." Ron nods, "How about I meet you two at the mall in twenty or so? In front of the Burpin' Burger since…" He takes a quick glance at his watch, "It's almost lunch time."

"That'll work." Linka responds, her voice becoming more eager.

Ron then turns and walks out of the room with, "See ya girls there!"

The white-haired girl then turns around and asks, "So what were you saying Claudia?"

"I was saying-" Claudia begins, only to get cut off again by Cristopher entering the room.

"Linka!" Cristopher greets with a pained smile as he walks into the science lab. "Your brother Lane is crazy." He then begins to pace around the room while stammering randomly. "I just read a comic called, 'The Loud Comic: I Love My Sister!' And, spoiler alert, he killed Ron Andy in the first few pages!" Then with more fear in his voice he runs right into the wall. After taking a moment to brush the blood off his nose, he continues, "And apparently I'm going to appear in it soon!" And with that he quickly walks out of the room, leaving a tense air in his wake.

 _"That was strange... What's going on with Cris? And why are people making comics of me?"_ For a moment Linka thinks, before realizing, _"It's probably just the Internet being the Internet. There are college students probably writing fanfiction of a boy with ten sisters or something... Wait... That makes no sense either."_

She sighs, _" Things happening that don't make sense… things popping up where they don't belong? I wonder if the universe trying to 'correct' supposed anomalies. Things are just getting more confusing by the minute."_

After a few moments of confused silence, Linka suggests, "How about we head to the mall and talk about whatever you want me to over a bite to eat?" Before getting up and motioning Claudia to do the same.

Claudia nervously responds, "Ok Linka, I'll tell you then." Before complying. And with that the duo heads out of the school and over to the mall a few blocks away.

 _ **A Few Minutes Later…**_

The Royal Woods mall, a small town icon ever since its construction a few decades ago. Though simple in design, it breathes of use, with the residents of the surrounding small town as well as the visiting tourists making sure to pay a visit.

*Yawn* Ron goes as he leans back in his chair. Linka and Claudia sit across from him with the white-haired girl staring at him with goo-goo eyes.

"Anyways, I've got to hit the toilet." He declares, before moving passed the pile of random goodies the girls had acquired and walking away.

Linka shakes her head, before turning to the quiet Claudia, "So Claudia, you've been quiet."

Her African-American friend nods.

"Didn't you want to talk to me about something?"

Claudia rubs the back of her head in embarrassment, "Yeah… well Linka… there's something I've been meaning to tell you and…"

"Aww, would you look at that! The lesbian girls are spending time together!" a rather stuck-up sounding voice calls out, causing the two girls to turn.

"Oh, hey Chandler." Linka greets nervously, _"Am I supposed to hate her here or something?"_

"Aww, how cute!" Chandler condescendingly declares, "You're so girly, princesses are more manly than you!"

"Aww thanks Chandler!" Linka responds with a sincere tone, _"Am I doing this right?"_

Chandler scoffs, "In case you haven't noticed, tomboys become fully feminine when they hang out with you, Loud!"

" _Whatever I'm supposed to be with Chandler, I'm not dealing with this."_ Immediately Linka responds,"So? At least I'm a good influence on the people around me!"

"Your dress is awful!" Angrily rebukes.

"Well hey, I've got some good stuff to cover," Linka declares, motioning towards her rather plain body, "having 10 brothers teaches you not to wear your best unless it's a special occasion."

 _"Ok Lincoln, you've got to make sure that if something changes for Linka, if should be giving her a better reputation!"_ The girl nervously thinks.

"I can't believe it! Last week, you ran away crying when I insulted your dress! What the heck happened to you?!" she angrily shouts.

 _"Crap Lincoln, you went too far!"_ Linka puts on a shy smile. "Oh, nothing happened. I guess it's a perk of having caring and judgmental brothers! You've gotta have thick skin and stuff."

Chandler growls, "Your brothers suck!"

"My brothers are awesome!" Linka counters.

"At least I'm not a danger to society!"

Claudia then tries to speak up, "Linka I-" Her face becomes redder.

Only for Linka to laugh, "And you're not? You hold parties at a sewage treatment plant!"

"Well… I have a boyfriend!" The rich girl declares, her frustration building.

Yet, Linka is unfazed and casually responds, "Wow, you actually found someone who could stand you?"

"Well hey, at least I have a significant other! What about you, Lonely McLonelypants?!"

Before Linka can respond, Claudia grabs her and pulls her into passionate kiss.

Chandler is left silent, unsure of what to make of the scene unfolding before her very eyes. Wordlessly, she raises her phone and takes a picture of the kiss. "This is so going to make it on the Internet!" Before promptly running away.

"Claudia..." Linka whispers, unsure of how to respond.

"I'm sorry." The girl quickly says, before turning and running away as well.

"Hey everybody, look! It's the lesbians!" Chandler declares as she returns with her usual group.

"Shut it chandler, or else your fake boyfriend might start talking." Linka angrily grits her teeth.

"At least I don't have gay cooties!" She puts her hands on her hips, as if trying to emphasize her weak point.

Immediately, Linka grabs Chandler by her blouse and pulls her into a kiss as well. No doubt someone was taking a picture of it.

Linka breaks the kiss off with, "Congrats, now you do too."

Chandler, after the shock wears off, tries to throw a punch at Linka with, "How dare you?! You little bitch!"

But Linka is no push over, and she easily catches Chandler's fist and kicks her crotch, causing her to fall down in pain. "Whatever, I've dealt with worse. Living with ten siblings teaches you more than anything. Your insults and weak attacks are nothing on me."

Then, Linka turns, only to find Ron Andy standing by, holding a crying Claudia. "Uhh, hey guys."

"You messed up." Ron coldly declares.

"Ron, I can explain!" Linka desperately shouts, while thinking _"Crud! Ron saw that! Linka's going to kill me when we swap back!"_

"Don't you have something to tell Claudia?"

Linka puts on a sheepish smile, "What do you mean Ron?" While she thinks, _"Crap, I think he wants me to tell her about us."_

"You kissed another girl!" Claudia cries.

Linka holds back, unsure of how to respond. "I- I'm sorry..."

"I just... I thought we had something… We've been friends for so long and…"

 _"Crud…"_ Linka regains her composure, "Look... Claudia, I like you, but only as my best friend.

Claudia just looks at Linka with pain cutting across her expression.

"I'm sorry Claudia." And with that, Linka's best friend pushes off Ron and runs off to a nearby restaurant.

Linka then turns to Ron, "Hey Ron... How much did you see?"

"Everything."

"Oh… Even me kissing Chandler?"

"...Yes." Ron awkwardly responds.

"Oh..." Linka rubs her arm in embarrassment, "Wanna talk this over a root beer?"

"How about you apologize to your friend first? It's the least you could do." Then he places a soft hand on her shoulder, "Plus, I need time to digest watching my girlfriend kiss two girls."

Linka sighs, "Ok then, come on. Let's go get her"

And so the duo walk over to the restaurant, and find Claudia sitting at a two-person table, eating the heartbreak special- pizza, vanilla ice cream, soda and tissues.

At the door, Ron turns to Linka and says, "You should take it from here."

Linka nods in agreement, before approaching her best friend.

"Hey Claudia…" Linka worriedly greets, "is this seat taken?"

The girl doesn't respond, but looks away, while taking another bite of chocolate.

"Claudia…" Links takes a seat across from her friend.

The girl doesn't respond.

 _"Great, your best friend likes you in this world, and you have no idea how to help her!"_ Linka thinks, "Claudia, please talk to me."

"What is there to talk about?" Claudia asks, not even bothering to turn to her friend, opting to grab the pizza instead.

Linka grabs Claudia's free hand, "How long?"

"How long what?" she quickly responds.

"Have you felt this way?"

"...Since, a talk with my moms…"

Linka sits back, unsure of how to respond. Claudia continues, "I've felt this way since I realized that… I really don't have a chance with Loki. And when I talked with my moms they told me that well… things like love aren't so easy to understand."

"Bu-but why me?" Linka stammers.

"Because you're the only girl who understands me, Linka! You may have ten brothers, but you're as girly as ever! You care so much and never let the world down!" Claudia rubs her arm, "You're everything I want to be…"

 _"Crap..."_ Linka nervously thinks _, "How the heck am I going to fix this?!"_ Before she responds, "Oh..." and takes a deep breath and takes her hand again, "Claudia, I know you feel lonely and different. But that's what makes you well, you!"

Claudia looks up at her friend, dropping the slice of pizza on its plate.

"I care for you, I really do, but you know I don't like you like that. You're my best friend."

The two girls both start to tear up, "Why'd you kiss Chandler then?! Am I not good enough for you?!"

Linka places a comforting hand on her cheek, "I kissed Chandler to shut her up."

Claudia falls silent and looks away.

Linka takes her head in her hands, "Come on. Chin up. You're my best friend, and any girl would be lucky to have you."

"Then why won't you have me?" She desperately asks.

Because..." Linka hesitates, _"Craaaaaapppp!"_

"Because I... I like Ron Andy." She stammers

"Wa-why?"

"What do you mean?" Linka asks, tilting her head in confusion.

"Why do you like him?"

"What do you mean why?" Linka begins to blush at the thought, "He's a great guy… he cares about me." While thinking, _"Lincoln, get a hold of yourself! This isn't you!"_

"…Seriously? He demeans us every single day! He stuffed a sloppy Joe up your favorite skirt! People thought you were on your period! I was afraid that he was going to do something stupid when he decided to tag along!"

"It's all just an act, he's a big ol' softy." Linka blushes harder, "he really cares. He just knows that he'd get teased if we should it in public."

"Huh… what?"

"Boys are rough." Linka then grabs onto Claudia's hands tightly, "And despite what he may seem, he's a great guy." She looks into Claudia's eyes longingly.

Claudia gives a defeated sigh, "So Linka... what do we do now?"

"Come on, how about we do something to cheer you up? How about some frozen yogurt?"

"Can it be chocolate?"

Linka smiles, "Yeah. Then, maybe I can help you find your own girl. I heard Gos' Dance Club is open tonight."

Claudia gives a soft smile, "Thanks Linka."

"No problem Claudia. Now come on, let's get out of here." Linka offers Claudia a hand and her friend takes it.

"I take things have gone well?" Ron declares as he walks over to the two girls.

Linka nods, "Yeah, thanks Ron. Now let's get out of here."

The boy nods in agreement, and the trio leave the Royal Woods Mall.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Uhh Levi." Lexx quietly says into his phone.

"What is it? I take you have replaced our things."

Lexx whispers, "Yes I have, and I have some news about Linka."

Levi curiously asks, "Yes?"

"You were right, I just watched Linka kiss two girls!"

"Oh, it seems I was…" Levi responds, unsure of how to react, "Ok Lexx, good work. See you back home with my Chlorine Trifluoride!"

And with that, Levi hangs up the phone.

23-15-18-19-20 20-9-13-5 20-15 2-1-18-7-5 9-14 15-14 25-15-21-18 2-18-15-19 12-25-14-14! 20-8-5-25 23-5-18-5 10-21-19-20 1-2-15-21-20 20-15 7-5-20 20-15 20-8-5 10-21-9-3-25 16-1-18-20!

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! As always, feel free to leave story prompts/suggestions behind! Since this arc is called "Revelations", I wonder if you guys can guess what story is next! I thank Exotos for helping me write the scene between Claudia and Linka!**

 **Also, because exposition is done, I'm planning on making these stories more one-shot based, though as you can see, there are two subplots.**


	7. Fun Times With Lynn Jr

**A/N Hey guys! I'm back with another story! Man, college is getting crazier and crazier. Luckily, a good story is more than enough to lighten the mood!**

 **As always, R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Linka and Lynn spend some time together. And Lynn's revelation. (Planned)**_

Story Seven: Fun Times With Lynn Jr.

After a long day spending time with her two friends, the young Linka Loud steps through the Loud House door with, "Man, that was one heckofa day."

She closes the door her and leans back against it, "Who could've known the Claudia has a crush on me in this dimension. Heh, I wonder if Clyde has a crush on me back home." Then she shakes her head dismissively, "Nah, I doubt it. This place doesn't seem to be a complete… anything for that matter."

Then, she stands up straight, secures her bag and declares, "I'm home!"

Immediately, a slightly older boy with brown hair slides down the staircase railing and lands in front of the girl. "Welcome home Linka!" He excitedly greets, "How was it?"

"It was fine Lynn, though with Claudia and…" Linka blushes, "Ron Andy around, it's hard not to have a good time."

"Sounds fun…" Lynn then awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "Linka…"

Linka adjusts her purse before responding, "Yeah Lynn?"

"I wanted to know if you're free tomorrow…" Lynn's voice nervously trails off.

"Yeah," Linka answers, "Why?"

Lynn looks away shamefully, "Because I wanted to know if you would mind hanging out tomorrow. We never do it and I could show you my moves with sports and junk."

" _Weird… I wonder why he's so nervous about it."_ Link thinks, before nodding, "Sure Lynn, we can hang out tomorrow."

"Thanks Linka!" Lynn happily shouts, before hugging his sister gleefully, and running back up the stairs.

"Huh…" Linka whispers in confusion, "I wonder what that was about." Before she strolls over and drops down on the couch.

"Hey Linka." Luke greets, before sitting on the couch next to her, "How are ya feelin'?"

"I'm good, I just had a crazy day with Claudia and Ron." Linka's voice gains an uncharacteristic nervousness. "It was fun though."

Luke looks at Linka skeptically, before playing his guitar, "Heh, sounds like you had a fun day."

"Yeah…" Linka sits back against the armrest.

"Ya know sis, if there's anything you want to talk about, you can always trust me to keep a secret." Luke sincerely declares, before strumming away at his guitar.

"Thanks Luke." Linka nervously responds. "That's good to know."

The rocker then turns and stands up, "Anyways, I'm gonna hit the hay. Goodnight sis."

Linka tilts her head in confusion, "What the? But you just got here?"

"I was in the kitchen fixing my guitar." *Yawn* "And boy am I tired." And with that, he walks away, only for Lane to step into the room carrying Mrs. Coconuts.

"Oh, hey Linka!" He nervously greets, before awkwardly throwing the dummy behind his back and stepping over to the stairs. "Don't mind me. Just going to my room."

"Huh, I wonder what's up him." Linka whispers, before twisting and turning to her feet and walking upstairs… only to find the hallway almost completely quiet, _"Where is everyone?"_

She then takes a quick look around, and finds the brothers standing around in Loki's room. "Hey guys?" Linka greets, before entering the room. "Whatcha talking about?"

Loki puts on a sheepish smile and answers, "We were just planning on where to go in a few days! Ya know, for a guy's night out and stuff."

Linka tilts her head in confusion, before shrugging and walking over to her room.

"Ok, coast's clear." Lexx declares while sticking his head out the door, making sure that Linka had really walked away." Then he turns to his brothers and pulls out his phone, "Ok, this is what I called you all in for."

"Your phone?" Leif asks in annoyance, "What about our damaged stuff? I need a new wrench ya know!"

Lexx sighs, before walking back to his room. A few moments pass by and he returns with a sack full of the replacement belongings, "Here they are guys, the replacements for your stuff paid for with my acting money, just as ordered."

Luke nods, "Ok bro, now what did you need to show us?"

The younger boy responds by unlocking his phone and flipping to two photos, the first of Linka kissing Claudia and the second of her kissing Chandler. "Guys, I think Levi was right."

"Of course I was right." Levi declares with a proud tone, "But that is not important currently. Before this point, we just touched upon what we had to do. With this new revelation, we must plan." Levi adjusts his glasses, "Hopefully, she will tell us before we find another way."

The brothers nod in agreement, before chatting away randomly.

 _ **Later that night…**_

Linka walks out of her bedroom and quietly strolls down to the kitchen, where she finds Loni standing in front of the sink, working with some random materials.

"Hey Loni." She quietly whispers, "You mind helping me with something?"

"Huh?" He goes in confusion, before turning around to face the girl, "Oh! Sure Linka!" He cheerfully answers, "If it's about boys and girls, feel free to ask!"

Linka just looks at him in confusion, before answering, "Uhh, no Loni, I'm having problems with sleep."

"Ok!" Loni goes excitedly, "I can help with that!" He then rushes over to the coffee maker and quickly pours a mug full of the bitter liquid, "Just drink some of this and your sleep problems will go all away!"

Linka just facepalms in annoyance, "Loni, I meant I want to go to sleep, not stay awake."

"Oh…" Loni goes sadly, before perking up again, "Ok then! How about you talk to me about your problems and stuff! That's sure to put you to sleep!"

The girl sighs, "Ok Loni… well, I have this friend and she really feels like she likes this boy, but she can't help but this girl the same way! She ran away from home and is currently living with an adoptive family too, so she's not sure how they'll react." Then she looks at him with begging eyes, "What do you think Loni?"

"Well, she should just be honest with herself and the people around her." Loni answers with a fatherly tone.

Linka hesitates for a moment and smiles, "Thanks Loni, I'll tell her that later."

"Awesome." Loni goes, "Now come on, how about we go to sleep?"

His sister nods in agreement, "Ok Loni!"

And with that, Linka gets up and heads back up to her room, with Loni walking into his own.

"Hey guys, Linka's just gone to bed." He greets his brothers.

"Did she tell you anything Loni?" Loki curiously asks.

Loni shakes his head, "All she did was tell me that she has a friend that like a boy and a girl the same way and that she had run away from home or something."

"Interesting." Levi goes, "The second phrase most likely holds no meaning, but the first is what we have to look at." He hesitates, "Unless… she's planning to…"

"Hey Einstein, rather than try to decipher what Linka was meaning when she talked to Loni, how about we just find Claudia and… whoever that other girl was, and ask them about it?" Luke turns the scientist to face them.

"Good idea Luke." Loki declares, "Lynn, you've got her tomorrow, right?"

The younger boy nods, "Yeah, she is completely ok with hanging out tomorrow."

"Did you remember to ask mom and dad?" Lane cuts in, "After all, like mother like daughter am I right?"

Lynn remains quiet for a moment, before whispering, "Damnit." Then he looks up at his brothers, "Don't worry, I'll ask them tomorrow morning. Though Linka's going to need to do her best to help me convince them."

"Ok, understood." Loki declares, "Ok guys, I think it's about time we head off to bed, remember to watch out for Linka, and whatever you do, don't mention any of this stuff to her, got it?"

The boys nod in agreement, before leaving the room for the night.

 _ **The next morning…**_

*Yawn* Linka goes, "Good morning." Before she sits up in her bed.

"Morning Linka." Lars greets, causing Linka to jump out of her bed in surprise.

"G'ahh!" She shouts, "Lars! What the heck are you doing in my room?!"

Lars remains silent for a moment, before pulling out a clipboard; "I wanted to tell you about this new story I'm writing. Would you like to hear about it? It's about a girl who has to pay off a debt to mob boss who happens to be a female to male transgender person."

Linka takes a moment to absorb exactly what he had said, before shaking her head and answering, "No thanks Lars, I think I'm ok with the weird writing for now, ok?"

"Sigh." Lars goes in defeat, "I'll just go find someone else then." And with that, the boy disappears just as abruptly as he arrived.

"Phew." Linka breathes a tense sigh in relief, _"I wonder what that was about."_ Then she drops from the light-switch string and stretches, before taking a good look at herself in the mirror. "Ugh, I'm such a mess. My hair's all screwed up, my hands are all dirty, and I still have Claudia's lipstick from yesterday… Did I even shower last night?"

She takes a quick sniff of herself, before cringing, "Yep, I have got to shower right now." Then, she grabs her loofa as well as a set of underwear, before opening the door… only to reveal her brothers waiting for her.

"Uhh… hey guys?" she nervously greets.

The brothers put on overtly awkward smiles in response.

"Mornin' Linka!" Loni responds, the only one of his brothers to not to be nervously standing by.

Linka then nervously steps through them, careful not to break eye contact with her brothers. A few seconds after that, she steps into the bathroom and begins washing herself off.

"I think we were a bit… too supportive with her." Loki quips.

"Yeah," Luke adds, "I think we'll need to tone it down a bit."

Levi thinks for a moment, "How about this my brothers, we behave normally, while allowing Linka to join us in our activities, if she so wishes."

The brothers look at each other for a few moments before turning to the scientist and nodding in agreement. After that, the Loud Brothers went downstairs for breakfast, leaving Linka upstairs alone to shower.

A few minutes later, she emerges from the bathroom in nothing but a towel covering the lower half of her body. Looks like she forgot about the upper half.

"Ahh that felt wonderful." She contentedly states, before making her way across the hallway… only to run in to Lynn.

"Hey Linka Break-" He starts, only to catch a glimpse of her half-naked body. "W-W-Why is your upper body exposed?!"

"It's not supposed to?" Linka inquires, tilting her head.

Lynn's nose begins to bleed, before he grabs it, turns and rushes down stairs.

 _"Huh… I wonder what that was about."_ She thinks in confusion, _"Oh right…"_ The realization hits her, hard, _"I'm a girl here… That means I have to cover more…"_

With her face going red in embarrassment, she steps into her room, changes into her typical orange blouse, blue skirt and orange hair bow. "You look good enough for the boys Linka!" She declares, before slapping her mouth shut.

 _"What the heck is going on with you Lincoln?!"_ She then shakes her head, before joining her siblings downstairs.

"Mornin'!" she greets, before taking her seat at the grown-up table.

"Good morning Linka." Lynn Sr. greets with a tone of slight annoyance. "It seems you had fun at the mall yesterday."

Linka nods, "Yeah dad." Before tilting her head in confusion, "Did I do something wrong?"

"Now dear, you know you're supposed to tell us before you go out!" Rita responds, her voice filled with worry, "You never know what could happen when you're on your own!"

Linka looks away in embarrassment, _"I should've known. Why didn't I tell them?"_

"I'm sorry…" She meekly responds, "Claudia just wanted to meet with me and I forgot to tell you guys. The young girl makes sure to add a pouty face along with that, just for good measure.

"It's all right dear." Lynn answers, "But please, you have to remember that we care for you and want to make sure that you're safe!"

Linka nods, before Lynn speaks up, "Mom, dad, would it be ok if Linka hangs out with me today? "

"Absolutely not!" Lynn Sr. responds, "You know Linka's not like you Lynn, she couldn't possibly enjoy getting her and covered in mud." Then he turns to his only daughter, "But if she wants to, I'll allow it."

"Aww but dad…"

"I would love to join you!" Linka speaks up eagerly, eliciting a glare from Lynn Sr. though she doesn't notice.

"Fine by me, what do you think?" Rita turns to her husband. The man sighs, before answering in his usual, albeit slightly nervous, tone. "I'm fine with it."

"Awesome!" Both Lynn and Linka shout in agreement, before jumping up.

"But make sure Linka doesn't get hurt!" Lynn Sr. orders. The two children nod in agreement, before running away from the table and rushing up the Loud house stairs.

A few minutes later, and the two kids are calmly walking along the street, with Lynn carrying a small bag of supplies.

"So Lynn, where are we going?" Linka curiously asks, while adjusting her orange handbag, _"Man, I really have got to get used to carrying this thing around. It's so weird!"_

Lynn awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "We're going to where I like to play games and sports and stuff!"

"Oh, like football and stuff?"

The boy responds, "Yeah! Stuff like that!" before hastening his step, "Come on, We're almost there! I can't wait to show you what I do in my free time!" his voice becomes more nervous, as if he's trying to tell himself that what he is doing is for the best.

"You ok Lynn?" Linka asks, "You seem more tense than usual."

"Huh?" He quickly responds, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Is there something you aren't telling me?" Linka adds.

"Nope!"

Linka just stares at him with a skeptical gaze.

Finally, Lynn gives a defeated sigh. "Linka, what sports do you think I do in my free time?" he slows his step, as if he were a man broken by the woman of his dreams.

"Football, basketball, you know." Linka immediately answers, "Tough, manly sports and all that jazz!" she then flexes her muscles for emphasis.

"Have you ever seen one of my games?"

For a moment, Linka thinks, before shaking her head, "No I haven't."

And as luck would have it, Lynn continues, "Have you ever wondered why that is?"

"Well…" Linka hesitates, "I've heard you say you're on all these crazy sports and have a lot of fun, but I've never seen you do anything of the sort for real. But no, not until now that is."

"That's because I don't do those sports." Lynn finally responds, "I do some… other things in my free time."

"Heh," Linka responds, "Like what? Read Pony Princess or My Small Horsie?"

He shakes his head, "No." And within seconds the duo comes to stop in front of a rather plain building with a glass storefront and the words, "Dance School" Above the door in rather bright colors.

"I well…" Lynn's face goes red in embarrassment, before he rubs the back of his head; "I do ballet in my free time."

 _"Ok, that's it, dimension 63 apostrophe backslash is definitely not a perfect gender swap of C-137."_ Linka immediately thinks, _"There's no way that Lynn ever do something like ballet! She'd say it was too girly for her!"_

"Well…" Linka responds, unsure of what to say, "I guess you can show me what you do then. Come on." She then motions for him to follow her inside the rather plainly decorated building.

"Huh, so ballet huh?" Linka awkwardly says.

"Yeah, I like doing it." Lynn nervously responds, "Come on, I'll show you what I can do. It'll be fun for the both of us!"

Linka sighs, "Sure, why the heck not, but I don't have any ballet clothes."

"Don't worry." Lynn immediately responds, "I packed some just for you!" Then, he goes into the bag he had brought along and hands her a simple pink dress, "The changing rooms are over there, let's get changed and start doing some!"

For a moment, Linka hesitates, "This feels so strange… it's like my mind is saying no, don't do it, while my body says: yes! Do it!"

Lynn grabs his sister and shakes her a bit, "Earth to Linka, wanna join me or not?!"

"Huh." She stammers, "Huh, oh yeah, sure, let's do some ballet together!"

Lynn smiles, "Awesome, thanks for this Linka!"

"No problem bro, I don't mind!" she responds, before taking the ballet dress in hand and walking over to the changing rooms.

After a few moments, the duo emerges wearing their ballet gear.

"So how does it feel Linka?" Lynn asks as he watches his sister feel her body. The boy's face goes red; most likely from the fat that Linka's ballet dress hugs her body and accentuates certain… parts of it. "Wow, you look beautiful…"

"Huh?" Linka looks up at her brother, "What?"

Immediately, the boy goes red, "Nothing Linka!"

So she shrugs and continues feeling the dress. "This feels weird, like someone's just added a plastic cover to my body, and that I can move around like it's nothing!"

"That's the point." Lynn responds, "Now come on, I'll show you some cool moves I learned!"

"Huh…ok then Lynn, let's see what you've got!" Linka declares. _"Why do I get the feeling I'll regret this?"_

Immediately the boy jumps up and scissor kicks… before promptly landing with his legs straight apart. Lynn grimaces in pain for a moment, but Linka does the same and lands next to him.

 _"Huh, I guess not having anything like that holding my legs together, I can do things that I could before."_ Linka chuckles, "This is pretty cool."

"Nice Linka!" Lynn painfully says, before nudging himself back into a comfortable position.

"Got more tricks to show me?"

Lynn nods, "Yeah! Let's do this!"

After an hour of having some ballet fun, the duo finishes off with a final dual trick, causing them to land in each other's arms.

"Heh, that was fun Lynn." Linka declares, before helping her older brother up, "So, got another thing you wanna show me?"

The boy nods, "Yeah, come on, let's go!"

The duo changes out of their ballet gear and heads out of the building, before continuing down the same road from earlier.

After a few minutes of travelling, the duo finds themselves standing before a large white dome in an open field. Lynn motions at the building with a beaming smile, "Well here we are Linka! The Royal Woods Ice Rink!"

"Huh, cool." Linka whispers.

"Come on!" Lynn rushes inside. "Hey wait up!" Linka immediately responds, before following her brother inside. She eventually catches up to the young boy at the check-in counter."

"Here Linka." Lynn says, before handing her a thin coat and ice-skates, "You know how to skate?"

Linka nods, "Yeah, what do you do here?"

"I ice dance."

"Well ok then." Linka flatly responds, before grabbing her brother's arm and pulling him inside and within minutes, the duo is spinning on the ice.

"Haha! This is fun Lynn!" Linka declares, before twirling and speeding towards the boy.

"I know it's fun!" He responds, "I was worried you'd be more, judgmental about my hobbies!" He then spins passed her and twirls, before using the momentum to spin and crash right into her. "Thanks for coming along Linka."

"No problem Lynn." She responds, before pushing him off, "Come on, race ya!"

With that she starts skating towards the opposite end of the rink.

"Oh, you're on!" Lynn immediately responds, before he chases after his hyperactive sister. _"I wonder what's gotten into Linka, she's never the excited about anything!"_ He thinks, _"Maybe she really does want to be our brother or something…"_

"Earth to Lynn!" Linka frantically responds… only for Lynn to crash into her.

"Oh… sorry Linka." he nervously apologizes, "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"It's fine. Come on, maybe you could show me some of the tricks you pull on the ice!"

The boy shrugs, "Ok then." before taking Linka's hand in his own. Then, with a strong tug, he pulls Linka close and begins to guide her skating. He twirls her around, and for a lack of a better term, perform the waltz on ice. Ending with Lynn dropping Linka down, as if preparing to kiss her.

"Haha Lynn, this was fun!" She declares, "Come on! Stop joking around!"

Lynn's face goes blush in embarrassment and he doesn't respond.

"Heh, Lynn, you got the hots for me or something?" Linka jokingly asks, snapping her slightly older brother back to reality.

"Eww! No Linka!" He defensively goes, before dropping his sister.

"Heh, ok then." Linka pulls herself from the ice, "So, got more stuff to do?"

"Huh," Lynn goes with slight confusion, "Oh uhh, sure. I know what we can do next."

*Grumble*

"Lunch?" Linka asks.

"Lunch." Lynn calmly responds.

And so, the duo leaves the ice rink and makes their way towards a familiar place, a small restaurant close to the town center. A few minutes later, and the duo is sitting at a small metal table in front of B&L's famous pizzeria, while eating eleven-inch-long foot long subs.

"These taste great Lynn!" Linka declares, _"No wonder my Lynn loves her meatball subs so much!"_

"Yeah, I know" The boy responds, "This is where I come whenever I want to get ready for a performance. These things are filled with energy, so when I need a boost, I just come here."

"Wow. Wait… performance?"

Lynn nods, "Yeah, I perform for people every now and then."

Linka tilts her head in confusion, "Then why have we never been invited to your shows and stuff? You're amazing!"

The boy looks away in shame, "Because the other guys would just go and tease me about it. If you haven't noticed, I was the only boy in the ballet school, and one of the very few who likes doing the dancing style of ice skating rather than hockey."

"Wow…" Linka responds, unsure of what she could possibly say to him.

"Yeah, surprising isn't it?" Lynn quips, "Your older, tough, sporty brother likes sports and stuff that is mostly dominated by girls." Then he sighs, "That's why I never invite you guys to games and shows, because I know that they'll just laugh at me!"

Then he looks back at Linka, "Heck, dad called me a disappointment when he found out I wanted to do ballet!"

 _"Dad, calling one of us a disappointment? This really is an alternate dimension!"_

"Heh, it's good thing mom was there though. She calmed him down well enough to stop him from disowning me." Lynn takes a bigger bite of his steaming hot sandwich, not fazing him in the slightest.

"Wow…" Linka finally responds, "You brought me along to because you wanted to open up, huh?"

Lynn moves his hand, "Yes and no, you've seemed a bit distant since that weird dream of yours a few weeks ago, so I decided to bring you along to maybe get you to tell me what's been bugging you lately."

Linka sighs, "There's no problem Lynn, I'm fine." What she thinks, _"Rats! He knows, or at least suspects something! Linka is going to hate my guts!"_

"Are you sure Linka?" Lynn nervously asks, "If you need anything, please, tell me. We're there for you if you need it."

"Thanks Lynn." Linka looks away, "But everything's just fine right now. I don't need help with anything."

Lynn finishes his sandwich with one, final, massive bite and leans back in his chair. "Ok then Linka. How about you finish your sub and we head to the next place?"

Linka nods, her fears still not subsiding, "Sure Lynn! I can't wait to see what you have planned!" and takes a few minutes to finish her sandwich, before the duo stands up and heads away from the restaurant.

About an hour later, the duo is enjoying time at a spa.

"Wow Lynn, this was fun!" She declares, "You're a great brother." Linka lets the nice, calm atmosphere of the stop take her in and calm her down.

" _This is the best I've felt in days."_ She thinks.

"Heh, and you're a great sister Linka." The young boy responds with a smile, while he too lets himself relax.

A few hours after that, they emerge from the spa house.

With the sun beginning to set and their last stop finished for the day, the duo returns to the loud house with their heads help up high. "Thanks for the fun day Lynn."

"No problem Linka, I had fun too." Lynn gives a relieved sigh, "It feels good to finally tell someone else about what I really do in my free time. You promise you won't tell anyone else about this?"

Linka nods, "Of course not, your secret's safe with me."

The older boy smiles, before leading the duo back into the home… only for Luke to greet, "Hey guys, how was your day together?"

"It was great Luke!" Linka declares, "We might hang out again some other time!"

"Heh." Luke goes, "If you had fun with Lynn today, how about we hang out tomorrow? I've got a concert set up."

Linka thinks for a moment, before nodding in agreement, "Sure Luke! I'd love to hang out with you tomorrow!" her voice beams with excitement.

Luke smiles in agreement, "Heh awesome." Then he motions for the duo to head upstairs, "Anyways, it's time for bed. I hope you guys enjoyed your day out together."

Linka smiles. "Yep! I loved it!"

Lynn continues, "And I did too!"

With that, Linka heads upstairs and into her room.

*Sigh* The young girl goes, before taking a seat at her desk and leaning back against the hard-wood chair. "Today really was fun. Who knew he could be so awesome!" she nervously thinks, "Maybe he's even better than my own Lynn."

"My own Lynn…" She whispers meekly.

She then goes into her desk and pulls out a metallic card and device Trevor had left behind, "Who were you? What's going on with the anomalies? Why am I and now my siblings involved in this whole mess?"

Then she takes a deep breath, "I wish I had someone to explain what's going on. I'm really confused!"

"Heh, of course that is the case." A familiar voice responds, causing the girl to flinch upright, "Who's there?! Show yourself!"

The world around Linka begins to fade away, leaving her floating in a dark void, "What the, what's going on?!"

From the shadows, a familiar being appears, "You remember me, don't you? I'm William and only together can we prevent the destruction of your world."

4-1-14-7-9-20 12-25-14-14! 4-15-14 20 10-15-9-14 20-8-5 "16-5-15-16-12-5 23-8-15 23-1-14-20 20-15 4-1-20-5 12-9-14-11-1" 3-12-21-2!

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! You wouldn't believe how hard it was to type this story, especially when your writing hand is currently bandaged up (I ended up needing stitches) But I'm a determined person, and I made sure to get it done.**

 **Because injury, I feel like this chapter has more errors/issues than usual. Please tell me what you think!**

 **Also, the next 4 stories coming are some of the most requested.**


	8. On The Other Side

**A/N Hey guys! I'm back! And my hand has finally healed! This was one of the more requested stories. I hope you guys enjoy! R &R!**

 ** _Story Summary/Prompt: An explaination and what's going on with the real Linka. "_** ** _WHAT IS WITH WILLIAM? WHAT'S HIS DEAL?" And "I_** ** _s it possible that we'll see a chapter about how Linka's getting on with the dimension C-137 Louds?" (Requested by too many people to name)._**

Story Eight: On The Other Side

The old man stands before the young girl, his soft white hair breathes of his old age while his jet-black suit and purple shirt as well as top hat breath of a stoic professionalism. "So Mr. Loud, how have you been? I believe it has been, oh I don't know, about five chapters since we last met?"

The young girl remains silent, unsure of how to respond.

"Now come on young one, it's not healthy for you to remain silent, after all, my message applies to you more than you would expect." The man speaks with a soft, almost tempting tone.

"Wh-who are you?!" Linka stammers, "Where am I?!" The young girls eyes begin to frantically search the endless void for an escape, but to no avail. She is alone in the darkness with this man.

He smiles, "Now Lincoln, don't tell me that a little more than a week is more than enough to cause you to forget about me!" Before he steps closer to the young girl, "Come on, you remember me and my message don't you?"

Linka nods, before gritting her teeth, "What do you want?! Why am I here?" Her voice fills with nervousness and fear.

"Oh ho, ho, ho!" He responds, holding onto his chest as he does so, "You're the first mortal to not scream in terror when the world fades away!" He quickly regains his composure, "You're already showing promise!"

The man then snaps his fingers as he continues, "Now come, I have much explaining to do, before it is too late of course."

Immediately, a glass-like floor appears below the girl's feet, while the void lights up with countless star-like lights.

The two people land on the newly created land and he continues, "Welcome to the inter-dimension Mr. Loud, do you recognize it?"

The young girl just looks at the man, her confusion showing on her face.

"Now, of course, I don't expect you to recognize it… after all, you aren't in one of the more stable inter-dimensional hub areas." The man then steps forward, "but that doesn't matter much, since you probably know that, correct?"

"Uhh… no?" Linka goes nervously, "I don't know anything! What's going on?!"

"Oh?" The man turns to face the young girl, a judging atmosphere filling the air between them. "It seems you really are clueless after all!" The man's voice becomes more cheery, before he snaps his fingers. A small ball of fire appears in his opposite hand, and dissipates within seconds, leaving a small stack of papers in its wake.

"Hmm…" He goes, as he quickly reads through the papers, "Interesting, very interesting…" Within seconds, he finishes and looks up at the girl, "Eureka! It seems that you've met a member of the Dimensional Anomaly Elimination Squad!" He quietly flips to the next page, "As well as… kissed your worst enemy and best friend?"

His voice becomes slightly deeper, "My, my Lincoln, you really have been busy! No wonder you forgot who I was!"

"Haha! It seems I have to explain everything to you then!" He then snaps his fingers again, causing the papers to disappear with a puff of smoke. He then stands up straight and places his hand on his chin, as if thinking, "A ha! I know!" He snaps his fingers again, this time causing a set of chairs and a table to appear between them.

"So how about we have this little info dump over a game of duel monsters?" He asks, his voice calming down, as he takes a seat in one of the chairs.

Linka hesitates for a moment, before shaking her head, "No…" she remains still, "I'd rather not… I played that game on a motorcycle a few days ago and…"

"Oh haha!" The man goes, "Card Games on motorcycles? Sounds like a weird anime!" He then snaps his fingers again, this time causing the chair closer to Linka to move back, while he motions for her to sit, "Now come, we much to discuss."

"Ok…" Linka's voice nervously trails off, "But no duel monsters! The last guy I played that game against was trying to kill me!"

The man waves her off, "Pish-posh, he wasn't trying to kill you. He was just trying to defeat you so he could seal you away for all eternity!" then he mutters, "In a misguided attempt to prevent the destruction of your world."

"What the-" Linka starts, only for the man to cut her off with, "No then, how about a different game?" He snaps his fingers, conjuring a chessboard, "How about some chess? I've heard that you love to play chess, is that true Mr. Loud?"

The young girl hesitates, and nods, "Yeah, I used to play it in the park back home." She then quietly steps over and takes a seat. The white side of the board faces her, while the black side faces William.

A moment of silence passes between the two, before he continues; "Now then, I believe I have some things to explain. So how about this…" he leans in and places his elbows on the table, covering his mouth and looking on with judging eyes as he continues, "Since you're white, how about you start this? And ask questions, anything that you desire as you do so."

The air around the girl heats up. Her mind races in excitement, _"This can't be real! This seems so simple!"_ after close to two weeks the man before her promised the answers she so desperately desire. And so, with uncertainty filling her mind she begins, "What's your name?"

The man smiles, "Of course that's the first question you ask. Haha!" He sits back and gives a few more hearty laughs, before recomposing himself and tilting his tophat towards the girl, "My name is William Cryptos, M'lady, and I am the Guardian of Dimensions. It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Loud of Dimension C-137."

"Ok… Cryptos?"

"Please, call me William." He cuts in.

"Ok William…" Linka nervously grabs her first piece, "I move white pawn from F-2 to F-3." Her voice is filled with uncertainty, "So… can you fix all the anomalies and stuff I've been hearing about and send me home? You know, since you're the Guardian of Dimensions and stuff."

A worried look overtakes the proud man's face, "I move a black pawn, from E-7 to E-5." He then moves his hand from the piece and adjusts his tie, "As the Guardian of Dimensions, my job is to make sure that the balance between all dimensions remains stable. However…" His voice trails off and he breaks eye contact.

"Something has been tampering with the balance in a way I am having trouble setting right… cause strange occurrences everywhere."

Linka tilts her head, "Like?"

"Well for starters, you and your adolescent sisters seem to be flat chested, when in fact you should be at least starting puberty and your bodies should be developing as such."

Linka's face goes read in shock, "L-look! Our mom was a late bloomer!"

"Oh? Then why are your male counterparts fully developed at such a young age?"

"Our dad is an early bloomer!"

William sits back in his chair and laughs, "Oh ho, ho, ho!" He wipes a tear from his eye, "There is no issue with that." He recomposes himself once more, "But in all seriousness, it seems that a multitude of dimensions have been effected by whatever has been tampering with the balance.

"But what does any of this have to do with me?" The young girl hesitates on her next move, as any wrong play could lead to her swift defeat.

"You are connected to the prime anomaly in some way." The man looks her straight in the eyes, "This is why it seems the universe is bending around you. It's difficult to explain, especially to a mere mortal such as yourself."

"The prime anomaly?"

He nods, "Yes, before you came to the dimension you currently reside you came into contact with something strange and powerful. Now, of course most dimensions can handle an anomaly or two, or else every single dimension would be falling apart at the seams!"

William looks away once more, "But very few places can handle anomalies on a scale this large…"

Linka then grabs another pawn, "So why did I end up swapping places with Linka? That doesn't seem to make sense to me."

"It shouldn't, and that's where I come in." He watches Linka's movements closely as he answers, "Ever since some numbskulls from dimension 46 apostrophe backslash destroyed an entire dimension, I was tasked by the Guardian of Order himself to make sure that no dimensional counterparts can ever come into contact.

"So me taking Linka's place is your doing?"

"Yes," He nods, "And I would change your places in a heartbeat… but there is the looming issue of the prime anomaly."

"You mentioned that prime anomaly thing again, what is it? And what do it have to do with me?" She then declares, "White pawn from A-2 to A-4."

William sighs, "The prime anomaly is one of your dimensional counterparts. Specifically one that has managed to come into contact with and 'fuse' with another." Then he declares, "Black bishop, from F-8 to F-5."

"What?" Linka responds, more confusion filling her voice, "Uhh… White knight, from B-1 to A-3."

"In language a mortal of simple mind, such as yourself, would understand, "He did what you did, but somehow was able to travel between worlds without my noticing. This prevented me from removing that dimension's counterpart from the equation." He looks away and his voice gains a hint of remorse, "He was able to combine himself with another…"

Then, he grabs his next piece, "Black queen, from D-8 to H-4."

"So what happened next?"

"Like I mentioned earlier, the entire dimension fell apart at the seams." He adjusts his top hat as he continues, "Tell me, Mr. Loud, what do you remember happening before you woke up in dimension 63i apostrophe backslash?"

The young girl hesitates for a moment, before taking a deep breath and answering, "I remember the I had left the eleven boys dimension and I was making my way home…"

"Then?"

"Then…" Her voice becomes weaker, as if she herself doesn't believe what she's saying, "And then, just as I was about to enter the portal home, my watch started acting up and then *wham*!" Linka slaps her hands together, "Another version of me tackles me away from my home portal."

"Hmm…" The old man hums, "That could explain your connection to the prime anomaly. You have had direct contact with him."

Linka tilts her head.

William sits up straight and continues with a more professional voice, "You see, because of that several universes have become, for lack of better term, confused. In order to keep the balance between them stable, albeit temporarily, they have begun to 'share' resources between them."

"What do you mean by, 'sharing'?" She then grabs another piece and declares, "White knight, from A-3 to B-5."

Cryptos hesitates for a moment, before answering, "Tell me Mr. Loud, have you noticed things popping up where they typically wouldn't belong?"

His voice gains a soft authority as he continues, "For example, a familiar six-year-old appearing as your current brother's love interest?"

" _So that's why she seemed so familiar!"_ Linka quickly thinks, "But I'm not the prime anomaly! I'm just a version of myself that wants to go home!"

"I know you're not, and I would make both yours and my life easy by just sending you home!" He grabs his face and rubs it in annoyance, "But something is messing with my powers! Worse, those idiots down at the AEU have decided to try and do my job for me and seal away the anomalies! And they will stop at nothing until their objective is met."

Linka sits back in defeat, "So I'm going to have to deal with more people like Trevor huh?"

"Now, now, you'll only have to deal with them every once in a while. After that Trevor character came along, I've been working non-stop to prevent those idiots from getting to you.

She breathes a sigh of relief; the idea of not having to worry about being sealed in a card any time soon was more than enough.

"Now that I have explained the situation, as it stands, I need you to listen carefully."

"Yeah?"

"I have a mission for you, and only you are capable of doing it currently." William then extends his hand, "If you accept, I will grant you one wish now. No tricks, no double crossing, you just have to accept a special mission."

"And if I refuse?"

"Haha!" Cryptos gives a hearty laugh, "Then you risk the destruction of your home, your sisters, your newfound brothers." He snaps his fingers, causing the world around them to change into a burning silhouette of Royal Woods, "Everything will be destroyed."

With a more pleading voice, he asks, "Mr. Loud, I would undertake this mission myself, but as a Guardian, I am not allowed to interfere directly in matters such as this. The affairs of mortals are off limits."

Then, he looks into the young girl's eyes, "Please, will you help me prevent the destruction of your world?"

"I have more-" Linka starts, yet William places a soft finger on her lips.

"Now, I know you have more questions, but all will be revealed in due time. For now, you must remember that your world, as it was, is still here. Though it's shifted slightly."

Linka nods, "Ok…"

Cryptos smiles, before outstretching his hand, "So do we have a deal?"

The young girl hesitates for a moment, and takes his hand. "I'll help you."

"Good." He whispers, before grabbing his final piece with his free hand, "Black queen, from H-4 to F-2. Checkmate."

And with that, he snaps his fingers once more, "Good game. Now, what is your wish?"

She hesitates, put off by the easy defeat she was just handed, "I want to see my sisters again."

"Heh, figures." He speaks with a joking tone, "Then I will let you watch a day in the life of Linka Loud in your body. You'll see and hear everthing she does, as well as be able to listen to her thoughts as well. Is this fine with you?"

Linka nods, "Yeah…"

"Splendid!" He happily responds, before snapping his fingers, transporting the duo to the room Lincoln had grown up in. Not much has changed since the day the real Lincoln had left. "If you need me, feel free to call!"

And with that, the old man disappeared, leaving the young girl behind to watch.

* * *

*Yawn* The young Lincoln Loud impersonator goes, as they open their young eyes and take in the scene around them, "This is the life. No need to get out of bed and help mom cook in the morning. Heh, finally getting a full night's sleep… I never thought I'd see the day."

The young boy sits up, "It's hard to believe that ten girls are so much easier to handle than ten boys!" he chuckles, "And me being the only boy is amazing! I don't have to be lady-like! I don't have to care much! And the best part-"

" _ **Hey Lincoln! It's Clyde, come in."**_

"Clyde's not my only friend here." He then turns and hops out of the bed,, before taking the device in his hand and responding with a… rather suggestive tone, "Heeeyyy Clyde, it's 'Lincoln'!"

" _ **Uhh…"**_ Clyde responds, unsure of how to speak, _**"We still good for tomorrow man? You almost never want to hang out on Sundays cause… reasons I guess? You never do tell me what your family does."**_

"It'll be fine, I've already cleared things up with my parents, so I'll be able to head over!"

" _ **Got it, see you then man!"**_ Clyde cheerfully responds, and with that the line goes dead.

"Heh, that boy is cute… I wonder why he finds me so strange…" Lincoln then shakes his head, "I don't know why I ended up here, but I hope whatever caused this to happen doesn't try to fix the mistake. I'm lovin' it here!"

He then drops the device on his dresser and grabs a towel and loofa off his rack, _"So I have to deal with a line to go to the bathroom? Oh well, that doesn't matter to me much! Having to wait to shower is still better than having to smell nine brothers who insist on only showering in the morning!"_

Then, he opens his front door, only to reveal a smiling Leni waiting for him, "Hey Linky! The dress is ready for you to model!" Her voice is filled with excitement, "It took like all day to finish, but it'll probably fit you!"

"Got it!" The boy excitedly responds, "I'll try it on after I get washed up ok?"

Leni nods, "Ok Lincoln!"

"Where's my red fabric?!" Rita Loud shouts, only for Leni to place a finger over her own lips and bolting back to her own room.

" _These girls are everything I've ever wanted from my brothers!"_ She happily smiles as she steps closer to the bathroom.

After a few minutes of waiting, it's finally his turn to use it, and Lori steps out.

"Hey twerp, you sure you want to join me when I go to the spa?"

The boy nods, "Yeah Lori! We literally never spend any time together, so what better way than the spa?!" While he thinks, _"I always wanted to go to the spa, but mom and dad said it was too dangerous to go without one of my bros… and none of them wanted to go."_

Lori pulls her phone out and begins texting, "Still, that is literally not like you. You mentioned how a trip to the spa was too girly for you… or something like that?"

Lincoln shrugs, "I've decided to give it a shot, it couldn't hurt much, could it?"

The eldest sister thinks for a moment and shrugs, "Ok then, bathroom's all yours. Enjoy."

The boy smiles and nods, before entering the small room, _"So what if being the only boy out of ten girls, while being a girl before feels weird? I'd say it's still feels better than being the only girl out of ten brothers!"_

With that in mind, he quickly gets in the shower, cleans himself off and hums, _"And not having to worry about looking like a girly-girl has its perks!"_

A few minutes later, he steps out of the bath, with his orange, Ace Savvy towel covering the entirety of his upper body.

"Hey Linc! I was…" Lynn runs up the stairs and turns to face her lone brother, before snickering, "Bro, why are you holding your towel like that?"

Lincoln tilts his head in confusion, "What do you mean Lynn?"

"Haha!" She motions at the towel, "You're holding the towel like a girl! It's not like you've got something to hide up there right?"

"N-no…" the boy nervously responds.

"Then, let me help you with that!" Lynn then grabs the towel and pulls it down… causing Lincoln to lose his grip and the towel to fall to the ground, exposing his nude body.

Lynn's face goes red in embarrassment, as does Lincoln's, "Lynn!" He shouts in annoyance, before grabbing the towel and running over to his own room.

 _"Though… Lynn is so different here. She outright bullies me now…"_ Lincoln leans up against his door, _"It's weird… back home he was so distant from me. Now I can't seem to get away!"_

"Hey Lincoln." Lucy appears in front of the partially nude boy, holding a set of underwear, "You should put these on. You know it's not polite to show your… parts off to your sisters."

The boy's face goes even redder, before he grabs the underpants and slides into them.

The Gothic girl then pulls out a set of papers, "I took your advice and tried to put more story into my poems…" Her voice trails off .

"And?" The young boy asks, his curiosity peaked, "How is it going?"

Lucy gives a faint smile in response, "I think it's turning out really good, would you like to hear what I've made?"

Lincoln smiles, before turning and grabbing his clothes, "Sure Lucy, poem away!"

 _ **Though I feel the sands of time, as they pass through the hourglass.**_

 _ **Though I can hear your heart as it beats next to mine.**_

 _ **Though I feel your spirit as it passes on to the great beyond.**_

 _ **I know that one day our flames will die out.**_

 _ **I know that one day life will become too much.**_

 _ **I know that one day we may not meet again.**_

 _ **And yet, I look inside and my heart, we will never be far apart**_

"That was beautiful Lucy." Lincoln responds, wiping the soft tears that had formed during her poem, before he pulls his Gothic sister into soft embrace, "You took the idea of poem writing and made it great! I knew you could do it!"

While he thinks, _"Lars never asked me for story advice!"_

Lucy blushes in embarrassment, before she returns the hug, "Thanks Lincoln… How did you know that I needed to solve my problem by adding a story to it?"

"Uhh," The boy nervously responds, before responding with a heartfelt tone, "I guess it's just your older brothers instincts, no biggie!"

"Thanks. You're the best Lincoln." Lucy responds with a more upbeat version of her typical monotone before disappearing as abruptly as she arrived.

"Heh. I guess Lucy and Lars are two sides of the same coin." Lincoln rubs the back of his head, "Though, I didn't expect Lucy to write poems… I wonder why that is."

Then he turns and opens the door, _"It feels great not having to worry about my parents and their rules! I'm going to enjoy this as much as I can!"_ Then the young boy runs over to his eldest sister's rooms with, "Hey Leni, I'm ready to try that dress on!"

"Like, that's awesome!" The ditzy girl happily responds, "It's all ready for you to try on!"

She then lifts up a small stack of clothes, "Here ya go Lincoln!"

Lincoln takes the pile with a wide smile, "Thanks Leni!"

"No problem Lincoln!" Leni's excitement turns to curiosity with that, "You sure ou wanna try this stuff on? It's really girly and stuff."

He nods, "Yeah Leni, I'd love to model! It looks great and who better than to show it off than your little bro?!"

"Ok then!" She goes, "Go change, I'll be outside." And with that, she steps out of the room.

" _Leni's awesome, just like Loni. I can't believe she loves making dresses though, Loni was more focused on construction and stuff… he rarely dabbled in clothing design."_

A few minutes later, Lincoln stands on the small modeling stage Leni has, and begins to show off. The dress is pink with a white under bottom, a red bow on the chest, frilly white shoulder covers and a set of fake wings attached to the back. "Wow, this feels great Leni!"

Leni thinks for a moment, "Yeah, I agree! But I feel like it's missing something." She thinks for a moment and snaps her fingers in realization, "I know!" And with that, she runs over to her dresser and pulls out a set of stockings, shoes and the accompanying pink bonnet, "Put these on!" then, she throws them over to the young boy.

And Lincoln doesn't hesitate to put on the remaining clothing.

"Wow!" Lincoln shouts, "I feel like I'm a real anime girl!"

"Really?!" Leni goes in excitement; "I got the design from a weird card girl name Sakura!"

The boy blushes, "Thanks Leni, this dress feels great! Anyone would be lucky enough to have this!"

"Aww, really?" Leni goes affectionately, "Then why don't you take it? Since you seem to really like it?"

"No Leni… I couldn't… You worked so hard on this!" Lincoln responds with a concerned tone, but Leni places a motherly hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry about it. Take it. It's yours."

The boy blushes, and hugs his sister, "Thanks Leni."

"No problem Linky."

And with that, he breaks the embrace and bolts out of the room, before running into his own, passing Luna and Luan as he does so.

"Weird… Why did Lincoln run by in a dress?" Luan turns to Luna while the rock star strums her guitar.

"You think that's strange?" Luna casually responds, "That's the least weird thing he's done in the past two weeks!"

"What do you mean sis?" Luna raises an eyebrow in curiousity. "It's not like he's becoming a doctor strange! Am I right?"

Luna just face palms at the sheer bad that Luan's pun was, before she answers, "Clyde told me that he kissed his cheek after he helping him with something… I forgot what. And he didn't know why."

Luan thinks for a moment, "It's probably nothing, after all, boys will be boys. He probably meant nothing of it."

That's when Lisa walks into the hallway, "Older siblings, have you noticed odd behavior coming from our male sibling?"

The two sisters look at each other for a moment, before turning back to Lisa and answering, "Yeah."

Lisa adjusts her glasses, "Good, that mean's I am not the only one who noticed."

She then pulls out a strange, silver device, "A few days ago I made Lincoln a device that could let him travel to alternate realities." She starts messing with its dials and continues, "Ever since he came home from that adventure, time anomalies have begun to pop up."

"What do you mean?" Luna tilts her head in confusion.

The four-year-old scientist turns and motions for her sisters to follow her inside her room, before walking inside herself. "You see, ever since Lincoln returned home, the multiverse has been going on the fritz in a way. It's becoming confused and unstable. And things like logic are not making sense."

"And is that why Lincoln is acting so weird?" Luan asks.

Lisa hesitates for a moment, before typing away at her computer, "I would assume so, that's the only reason why things that he hated with a burning passion before now don't faze him at all."

Her voice trails off uncertainly.

"Or?" Luna asks.

"That, or our brother would rather be our sister." Lisa types away at the computer, "And if you haven't seen the Internet lately, I believe he will be in more danger than you would expect him to be."

"So why don't you just fix the anomalies and fix his behavior?" Luan goes worriedly, yet Lisa shakes her head.

"I wish it were that easy sisters, but I don't know how to fix dimensional anomalies." She then hands the two girls papers, "The only way I can think of possibly rectifying this issue is making another inter-dimensional watch, and use it to cancel out the original. Then there is a possibility that Lincoln can be returned to normal."

Luan and Luna look at each other, while Lisa continues, "I need you to get me those parts so I can build the watch."

Luan then turns back to her younger sister, "Why can't you do it?"

Lisa motions at the computer, "Because I have to stay behind and monitor the anomalies… as well as Lincoln's current condition. I considered doing this myself, but due to the very scope of this catastrophe, I need your help."

Then, with begging eyes she continues, "I need you to get all of those parts, and watch out for anything that seems out of the ordinary. Lincoln's well-being depends on it!"

"Wanna do it Luan?" Luna asks, and Luan nods in response. "Sure Luna… but after we hang out with Lincoln like we promised."

"Thank you." Lisa takes a sigh of relief, and the two older sisters walk out of the room without another word.

"Ok… now I just need to figure out the source of these anomalies." Lisa takes another deep breath, before looking at her computer with determined eyes, "Hopefully I can help Lincoln before it's too late." And with that, she returns to her desk and gets to work.

Hopefully, she'll be able to do something before it is too late.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

Lola walks into Lincoln's room. "Hey Lincoln!" She starts, only for eyes to fall upon her overly dressed brother.

"Uhh… Lincoln?" Lola goes with confusion, "What's going on with you?"

"Oh nothing!" The young boy turns to her, putting on a nervous smile as he does so, "I'm just helping Leni out with her latest dress and all!" Then, he kneels down and pinches her cheek, "What brings you to my humble abode sis?"

"Uhh… I just wanted to see if you could help me out with my pageant stuff…" She motions to her dress, "I have a competition to do and I need some help getting ready."

 _"Heh, just like Lexx."_ The young boy thinks, _"He always asked me for help getting ready for his acting gigs."_ He then responds, "Sure Lola, what's the first thing you need me to do?"

The young girl thinks for a moment, before turning around and motioning at her dress once again, "Would you mind fixing my dress Linc? It's really messed up." The dress is a complete disaster, with wrinkles and a random assortment of decorations strewn about. It seems as if Lola had forgotten to properly set it up before putting it on.

Lincoln smiles, "Sure Lola." Before taking hold of the soft dress and pulling, fixing it completely.

"There ya go, my little princess." Lincoln affectionately goes, before looking Lola in the eyes, "Go get em' tiger."

"Thanks Lincoln!" she nervously responds. Before turning and quietly stepping out of the room.

Almost immediately after that, Lana comes in running with, "Hey Lincoln! Would you mind telling me what you think of my mud pies?!"

For a moment the boy stands by, unsure of what to say, but after composing himself, he smiles and says, "Sure Lana." While he thinks, _"That's disgusting! But not as disgusting as Leif! I think he rolled around in feces once!"_

And with that, the young girl lifts up a pile of moist earth. "What do you think?" She excitedly asks.

"I think it looks great!" Lincoln responds.

Lana smiles, "Thanks Lincoln! And nice dress by the way!" before turning and running out of the room.

"Heh, that was interesting." he quips and blushes, before looking up at the clock, "Huh, it looks like it's time for me to go hang out with Luna and Luan."

And with that, he walks out of the room, and over to that of the comedian and the musician. "Hey girls!" he greets, "It's time for our music and joke time!"

"Hey bro!" Luna motions for him to come over, and he complies.

"Nice dress." Luan nervously adds, "I guess I can a dress you next!"

Lincoln chuckles, _"That's still better than Lane's horrible, painful puns."_ The boy takes a quick look at Luna's instruments and declares, "Uhh… Luna, I'm not sure how to play these…"

"Don't worry bro, just pick one and have fun!" Luna assures, "After all, it's what Mick Swagger always says!"

"Huh, ok then." He nervously, goes, before grabbing a trumpet and playing random notes as hard as he can.

After a few painful moments, Luna pulls the instrument away from the boy and rubs the back of her head awkwardly, "Heh, I think we should try something else… how about the Bassoon instead?"

"Ahh Luna, but you know he doesn't like bass!"

" _Still better than Lane!"_

And so, the young boy attempts to play the new instrument… only for the instrument to spray him with water.

Luan and Luna both hit their beds and laugh, with Luan saying, "That was hilarious Luna!"

"Wow, you've got to tell me how to set that up later Luan!" Lincoln happily raises the water cannon instrument and fires, spraying his laughing sisters with water.

A few minutes later and the entire room is covered with both pies and liquids… as well as having Luna's instruments strewn about.

Lincoln smiles, "Well that was fun guys! I'm going to be in my room with you need me!" Before he walks out of the room.

"Heh…" Luna calmly goes, "I think I like Lincoln like this…"

 _ **A few hours later…**_

"Lincoln! Come on, it's time to go!" Lori shouts, her voice filling with impatience and annoyance, "What's taking so long?! If you don't hurry up I'll leave you behind!"

"Coming! The young boy shouts, before sliding down in the dress Leni had given him. He stretches for a moment, before declaring, "I'm ready for the spa, Lori!"

"Haha!" Lori laughs, "Lincoln, put on your normal clothes, you look like a girl!"

The boy's face goes flush in embarrassment, while he thinks, _"Oops… I guess I miss wearing dresses a bit too much…"_

And with that, he turns and rushes back up the stairs. A few minutes after that, he slides down the stairs once more, this time wearing his signature orange polo and blue jeans."

"There ya go." Lori lovingly goes, before taking Lincoln's hand and saying, "Now come on bro, the spa awaits!"

Lincoln smiles, "Awesome!" And with that, the two walk out the front door.

A few minutes later, the duo is resting at the Royal Woods spa.

"You know Lincoln, you've been really open lately." Lori calmly states as she rests back against the spa resting pool.

"What can I say." Lincoln nervously responds, "I've just felt like talking to you guys more. Like I can relate and stuff."

Lori smiles, "You know Lincoln, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can tell me, right?"

"Right." he answers, still nervous and unsure.

"I'm still your favorite sister?" she calmly asks, before placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah…" His voice sadly trails off, "I just… I feel more comfortable like well…" He looks away, "Like a girl."

Lori hesitates for a moment, "I see." She then pulls her only brother into a hug, "Don't worry Lincoln, I won't tell anyone else, ok?"

"Thanks Lori." He responds, "I was worried that that you would panic and call me a freak."

"Heh, don't mention it twerp." Lori playfully responds, "You're my brother, and nothing will change that."

"Sister."

Lori is held aback, unsure of how to respond. Yet she holds her bearing and responds, "Sister. You're my sister and nothing will change that."

A few hours later, they return home, where they have a quiet dinner, with Lincoln doing his best to be laid back. After all, his parents didn't expect as much from him as they did Linka.

After dinner, they head off to bed and begin to sleep the night away.

* * *

"William!" Linka shouts, before taking a relieved, though pained, sigh, "I think I've seen enough." then she whispers, "My family's safe… for now. And they don't even know that I'm gone..." A sharp pain burrows into the young girl's chest as she stares at her counterpart.

"Splendid!" William steps into view, "That means we can begin your mission."

"What's the mission?"

William pulls a black sphere with a golden casing from his coat, "This is the Matter Key, you will use this to obtain parts of the Macguffin."

"The Mac-"

"It's a device I will be able to use to repair the dimensional anomalies." He hands the sphere over to her, "Equip it to your dimensional watch and it will do the rest."

Linka nervously nods, "Ok then... anything else I need to know?"

The man chuckles, "Of course, there are four parts that must be collected, then the gateway to the reality core will be allowed to open. Only then can we prevent the destruction of your world... and send you home my dear child."

She takes the orb in her hands and begins to inspect it, unsure of what else to do. "How will I find these parts? And why aren't you doing this work?"

"That orb will begin to react when you near one of the parts. I will guide you along your path… only when it is necessary." Then he breaks eye contact, "As I have mentioned before, I would do this myself, but us entities are not allowed to meddle in the affairs of mere mortals."

"Ok…" Her voice trails off uncertainly.

"For now, go and live your life. You've still got more revelations to see of course." Then he kneels down to her height, "To find these pieces you must explore the… unexplored. The first fragment exists in a room of secrets."

The young girl quietly examines the device, "Care to tell me what you mean by that?"

The old man nods, "Oh, ho, ho! Of course not! If I told you exactly where to find the items then what fun would there be? Do you take this mission on or should I search for someone else?"

She hesitates for a moment, weighing her possible options, before steeling her nerves, _"This may be the only chance I have to get home. I have to take it!"_ Then, she inspects the orb closer, _"And hopefully, stop the world from falling apart."_ And so, with an uncertain demeanor, the young girl nods, "Yes, I'll do it."

"Splendid! Then our deal is set!" His voice resonates with a mysterious excitement, before he places a hand on Linka's abdomen, "Now then, I believe your next adventure will involve a body part centered around here."

Linka tilts her head in confusion as the shadows begin to absorb the man. "Farewell Mr. Loud! I will speak with you again, soon!"

" _Strange…"_ Linka calmly thinks, _"I wonder what he meant by that…"_ Suddenly, a wet feeling engulfs her lower body.

"Crap..."

9 16-18-5-19-5-14-20 3-1-18-4-3-1-16-20-15-18 12-9-14-3-15-12-14!

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! I apologize if this chapter seemed rushed in any way, it's my birthday today and I didn't want to leave you guys without a chapter. I wonder who can guess what story is coming next. Hint: it is my second most requested prompt.**


	9. Lincoln's Lady Days

**A/N Well this is awkward, or at least I find it to be. Anyways, I'm back during finals week with another story for ya! No schedule slips yet! This was by far the most requested prompt. Note, I'm a guy, and so I had to ask my girl friends about this stuff… awkward conversations are awkward. Also, this story takes place around fall/winter. I made the mistake of writing summer a few chapters back.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy! R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Lincoln learns one of the… "Parts" of being an adolescent human female. "Lincoln getting his 'lady days' for the first time and not knowing what's going on." (Requested by too many people to name. Seriously, almost everyone I've asked and received prompts for suggested this!)**_

Story Nine: Lincoln's Lady Days

Late fall mornings are nothing to complain about! After all, autumn is the time of year when the weather begins to cool down ever so slightly. What could be wrong with that?

Though… I suppose that on a day like this if you're Linka Loud, or to be more precise Lincoln Loud in Linka Loud's body, you have plenty to say, given that it's just about that time of month when mother nature decides to come knocking.

Morning sunlight filters through the rounded window just as it has done for years, falling upon the young girl resting in her bed. For a moment, the sunlight falls upon her closed eyes, causing her to stir for a moment, before rolling on her back.

*Groan* Linka moans, a pounding ache knocking on her soft forehead. "Ugh, what's going on?" she holds her head before push herself up.

An unfamiliar liquid moved around her abdomen. _"What the heck?"_

In confusion, she quietly turns in her bed and weakly stumbles out. _"What's going on with me?"_

Though exhausted, she still pulls the overly warm bed sheets from her resting place and looks upon an unexpected sight: a small crimson stain of unknown origin… at least, to the young girl.

For a moment, a wave of confusion overtakes her, her young mind racing for an answer, _"What the… Lincoln… there has to be an explanation for this!"_ She then rubs her head, _"Linka's an eleven-year-old girl. What could cause an eleven-year-old to bleed from her…"_

That's when the realization hits her, and she looks down at her now slightly stained night pants. _"Am I bleeding… from my…"_ The thought slowly forms in the former young boy's mind.

 _"Am I having a…"_ Linka's face goes red in embarrassment, _"No… it can't be."_

"It's… my time of the month." She whispers, a feeling of dread falling upon her. And with that, she grits her teeth, _"Dangit Lincoln! Dangit, dangit, dangit!"_

Now, don't get me wrong, Lincoln knows what happens when Mother Nature calls every month! After all, with five older sisters, it's difficult not to know. That being said however, Linka is still not used to the whole boy-turned-girl thing.

Though having temporarily subsided while Linka realized what was going on, the young girl's pounding headache returns, this time with a vengeance. She groans once more, before pulling the towel and loofa off her door hanger, stumbling out of her room and waddling over to the bathroom just a few… miles… away.

Hopefully, any leftovers wouldn't hit the floor.

 _"How the heck Did Lynn, Luan, Luna, Leni and Lori deal with this?! It's only been like ten minutes!"_ She drops down on the toilet and leans back against the seat just waiting for something to change.

For a few moments, the pain in her abdomen refuses to subside. For the young girl, time seems to slow down, prolonging her unexpected pain.

Though, eventually she feels herself relax and the warm liquid pooling inside her finally dissipating, _"I feel horrible."_

She holds her head once more, before turning to face the bathtub, _"Though… I guess that's nothing a warm shower can't fix."_ With that, the young girl carefully undresses and leaves her clothes in a pile by the door.

"So this is what a period is like… no wonder my older sisters get so angry during them." She doesn't bother washing or scrubbing herself down, and instead lets the warm liquid flow over her body, giving her some well-needed relief.

"When I get home, I have to get those girls some chocolate. If this is what they deal with every month, it's the least I can do… Chocolate… Ooo… chocolate. That sounds like a good idea…" she then quickly shuts the warm shower, grabs her towel and heads downstairs.

Luckily for her no one else had woken up yet… well, save for her eldest brother.

"Mornin' Linka!" Loki greets, his voice filled with enthusiasm while he holds his coffee mug above the morning paper. For a moment, he stares at his younger sister, before tilting his head in confusion, "Uhh, why are you in nothing but a towel?"

Linka simply glares at him, before walking over to the pantry and digging through its contents. "Where the heck is the chocolate?! I need chocolate right now!"

Immediately, the realization hits Loki, "Oh… it's that time of the month." He sighs in defeat, _"Ok then, let's do this."_ He then slowly walks over to the young girl and places a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder, "You ok Linka?"

"Just peachy!" Linka responds with annoyance in her voice, before pulling more of the pantry's contents out in a desperate search for the prize she so desired. And with a more cheerful tone, she continues, "Just tell me where the chocolate is and I'll get out of your hair!"

" _How am I going to tell her?"_ Loki hesitates, before answers "Uhh, we stopped buying chocolate when we would always run out before the car got into the driveway, remember?"

The memories of watching Linka eat all of the chocolate on the car ride home replay in his mind. With her being who she is, she always got the sweet spot in the van.

Linka turns to the boy with daggers in her eyes, "No chocolate?! Well this is just great!" She then turns and stomps upstairs, leaving Loki behind.

"Well this is just been a great week. First we find out that our sister is well… questioning what she wants to be, and now she's on her period." Loki then sighs, letting himself take in just what was going on, before he quips, "At least Christmas break is coming soon. Maybe we'll get a break then."

With another sigh he declares, "Ok, big brother Loki mode on." Then, a determined look overtakes the boy's face, "Let's do this. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that Bebe has her time of the month around Linka's, but oh well! At least I can see it coming!"

And with that, the eldest brother rushes up to his room and runs into his closet _. "I hope I remembered to stock up… This is the first line of defense against the Linkpocalypse!"_ He thinks, as he digs through the random assortment of boxes, cabinets, trinkets and drill rifles that crowd the closet, before he comes across a small brown box labeled, "Use In Case Of Female Emergency Only!"

"Please tell me I stocked enough, please tell me I stocked enough!" Loki repeats, as he slowly peels back the cover and takes a peek inside. His heart beats faster in anticipation, holding it quickly before finally flipping the lid!

"Fuck!"

"Hey Loki, whatcha' doin'?" Loni tiredly sits up in his bed and stretches in response, "You remember what dad said about cussing around the house. Linka could hear and get corrupted or something!"

Loki puts on a sheepish smile, "Oh nothing, I was just checking supplies and stuff for the family trip in a few days. And don't worry, I highly doubt Linka heard that one."

Loni tilts his head in confusion for a moment, before shrugging and returning to bed.

"Phew, close one." The young man thinks, before re-hiding the box and grabbing his wallet, phone and keys off his nightstand, "I hope these guys can handle Linka's… current status while I'm gone."

Then, with even more determination, the young man heads out of his room and quickly sneaks out of the house, hops in the family van and drives off with a single destination in mind.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Linka stands in the middle of her now messy linen closet room, "Dangit Linka! Where the heck did you hide your chocolate?! Now I'm craving some and I can't find any!"

She then grabs Trevor's device off the floor and shouts, "Come on you stupid person-card sealing thing! Don't you have chocolate or something?!"

No response. Figures.

In frustration, the young girl throws the device onto her bed, before continuing to search her room. "I just want some bloody chocolate!" Linka shouts with a familiar accent, before she pauses, "Wait, when did I turn British?"

"Uhh Linka, you in here?" Lynn calmly asks, "I wanted to know if…" The young man takes a quick look inside the young girl's room, "Uhh… I think I should-"

Linka glares at him in response, before her expression softens, "Oh hey Lynn!"

"This isn't a good time, am I right?" Lynn asks, taking a step back and slowly closing the door.

The young girl shrugs, "Don't know, what do you need?"

"Luke just wanted to make sure that you and him were good to hang out today and stuff."

"Yeah Lynn, I'm still good if he wants to go and stuff." Linka calmly responds, before turning and picking the random assortment of trinkets and items off her closet floor… forgetting that she had changed into a skirt.

Lynn nosebleeds again, before turning around and walking straight into his room, not even bothering to even address his waiting brothers.

Only he knows what naughty thoughts have entered his mind.

 _"Ok…"_ Linka thinks, _"Lincoln, you're a girl now. And it's that time of the month."_ She then finishes cleaning her room up, before sighing and sitting down on her bed, _"Now, what did your older sisters do to deal with their time of the month."_

For the next few moments, she does her best to remember… yet the thoughts don't seem to come her.

 _"Either I don't remember what they did or…"_ Then the realization hits her, _"Or I never spent time with them while they were dealing with this stuff… F!"_ throws herself on the bed in frustration.

That's when Rita shouts, "Kids! Breakfast is ready! I brought some chocolate chips from the contest yesterday, so we're having chocolate-chip pancakes!"

Linka's eyes open wide, before she jumps up and rushes out her room door.

"I'm still confused as to how something with chocolate is considered acceptable for breakfast," Levi remarks as he adjusts his glasses.

"Shut up, Levi, nobody cares," Lexx responds, "Chocolate is good for you and tasty to boot!"

That's when their sister bolts passed them and down the Loud House stairs, leaving the brothers confused and surprised in her wake.

"Uhh… is it that time of the month again Luke?" Lane asks in confusion. "She usually doesn't rush down to get the little chocolate mom puts in her pancakes unless… you know."

"I wouldn't know, but it seems like it. Loki would know since… I don't know why really." Luke shrugs, before turning to Loni, "Do you know where Loki went? He usually holds a brother's meeting to tell us these things so we don't accidently cross her or Bebe."

Loni shrugs, "All I did was watch him go through some box this morning. I don't know what he was doing with it though…"

Levi then follows, "Interesting… I need to take a sample from Linka's room to make sure." Then he turns and takes a step towards Linka's room… only for Lynn to grab the scientist by the collar and pull him away with, "No Levi, you're not invading Linka's privacy again, you know how well that turned out last time."

"Curses." He responds. "Foiled again."

"So what are we going to do?" Leif speaks up and Luke responds by pointing at his four youngest brothers, "Levi, Lexx, Leif and Lars, I want you to stay clear of Linka for the time being, you don't know how bad some women get when it's that time of the month, got it?"

Then he motions at Lane, Loni, Lynn and himself, "Us four are going to do whatever we can to keep Linka calm while we wait for Loki to come home from whatever he went out to do, got it?"

The brothers nod in agreement.

"Good." Luke's voice is filled with a brotherly command as he finishes, "Now come on, it's breakfast time."

The ten brothers nod, and head over to their tables with restrained order, as if trying to make sure that they didn't annoy their parents and agitated sister.

Linka takes about ten minutes to eat her allotted chocolate-chip pancakes, before she gets up with, "I'm headed up to my room."

Lynn and Rita nod in allowance and watch as their only daughter calmly leaves the table… while not noticing the missing bowl of chocolate chips in the kitchen a few minutes later.

A few moments later and Linka Loud is back in her room, devouring the sweets without hesitation.

"Mmm chocolate." Linka purrs, as she takes another handful of the sweet substance and throws them in her mouth, "No wonder my sisters were chocoholics, this stuff tastes great!" She then stretches, before lying down, _"Thank goodness the cramps stopped, those were horrible!"_

She then takes a deep breath… before taking another handful of chocolate and throwing it in her mouth, "Ok then, what to do… what to do?" She takes a quick look around her newly cleaned off desk, and notices a small black sphere with a golden casing on it.

"The Matter Key…" She whispers, before getting up and taking the strange object in her hand, "William told me to equip it to the dimensional watch… somehow." She then takes hold of the device that caused this mess and stares at it, "But how? It's not like I can just jam them together or something…" Then she places them next to each other and tries to, well, jam them together. Immediately, the matter key reacts, glowing with purple energy for a moment, before enveloping the watch with its glow and disappearing.

A few moments later, the dimensional watch reforms and lands in her hands. This time instead of a dull grey, its strap has turned black while its dull grey faceplate has gained a golden boarder.

"Huh… I guess that works…" She quips, before tying the watch to her arm and leaning back. "Now… how to deal with my first period like this."

That's when Linka hears a knock at her door. "Hey Linka, it's Loki!"

"Door's unlocked, you can come on in." Linka calmly responds and immediately, her eldest brother enters the room carrying a small box labeled, "For Linka's Lady Days."

"How are you feeling?" the young man asks with a fatherly tone, "I heard it's that time of the month again." He then leans over and places the small box on her bed.

"Who told you?!" Linka angrily asks, "Did Levi do some more tests on me again?!" before realizing what he said, " _Lincoln… how the heck did you know that?! Levi hasn't run any tests on me since you got here!"_

Loki shakes his head, "Nah, I just know the signs really well." He then pulls a few supplies and places them on the desk, "Some tampons, Children's Tylenol, and stuff to stop hold off the bleeding and deal with the pain." He smiles with pride, "And I've made sure that you would have enough for the entire week."

Linka takes a good look at the random items he had given and smiles as well, "Thanks Loki!"

Then, he peaks out into the hallway, before whispering, "I know dad doesn't like you getting too much chocolate, especially around this time, but I made sure to pick up a few dozen bars before I left the mall." Then he carefully pulls out an oversized bar of white chocolate and passes it to the girl, "Don't forget to hide this, or else Levi might use it to try and understand the color white again."

The young girl's eyes go wide with a ravenous ecstasy for a moment, before she looks up at Loki with begging eyes, "Thanks Loki!" And with that, she takes the bar in her hands.

Loki motions for Linka to sit on her bed and she complies. He then follows and takes a seat next to her and hands Bun Bun over with a soft hug, "Don't worry Linka, this is just mother nature saying you're growing up, you're going to be fine."

And with that, the young man stands up and steps out of the room, leaving Linka behind.

 _"Ya know what… I think that this isn't going to be so bad after all…"_

Then, she steps out of her room and heads down to the living room with the biggest grin on her face. "Hey Lexx and Lars!" She greets.

"Sigh." Lars responds.

"Hey Linka!" Lexx holds up the remote.

"May I have the remote?" Linka politely requests.

Lexx shakes his head, "No! I'm watching-"

Linka gains an angry expression, before jumping at him, "Give me the remote."

A few minutes later and Linka sits between the two, with her smile having returned and the remote now firmly in her grasp.

"So this is what Luke meant by stay clear of Linka..." Lexx declares before promptly passing out.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

"You sure you want to do this bro?" Luke asks, before placing his guitar in its rack.

"Yeah," Loki responds, his voice breathing of a commanding calm, "I doubt you the others have had to deal with this before, have you?"

Luke shakes his head, "Usually, I just give my roadie the week off when her time comes. You as well as I know that in a house as small as this, it's hard to deal with that stuff in here. You sure? I can try calming her down with music after all."

"Yeah, I'm sure I want to do this Luke," Then Loki turns and steps out of the room, "You can have fun with Linka and that music contest later, It's in a week or something right?"

"Yeah," Then he grabs an acoustic guitar and begins tuning, "well then, good luck and have fun I guess."

"I'll try." Loki mutters, before taking a deep breath and heading downstairs.

He stands up at attention in front of Lynn Sr. who simply responds with a soft, "Yes Loki?"

"Sir, I wish to take Linka to the mall today. May I have your permission to do so, sir?!" Loki speaks with a booming voice, as if he had been trained to sound off.

Lynn Sr. raises an eyebrow in response, "No! She went a few days ago and went out with Junior yesterday! Why should I let her go out when she could stay home and finish her work?!"

The young man thinks for a moment, before sounding off his response, "Sir! Because Linka is currently menstruating and I believe it would be in the best interest of the family for her to go out and spend with another girl and myself, given the circumstances of the previous cycle, sir!"

"Oh, I see." The man thinks about the disaster of Linka's last time, before returning to his paper, "All right then son, feel free to take her out. But make sure she's safe and home in time for dinner."

"Sir, yes sir! Sir, thank you sir!" and with that, the young man turns and walks up the stairs.

Lynn Sr. flips his newspaper page and mutters, "That time at military school worked wonders."

Loki walks over to his sister's door once more, adrenaline rushing through his veins, _"Ok Loki, just like with Bebe, stay calm and prepare for whatever comes your way."_ He then knocks, "Hey Linka, wanna hang out with your big brother today?"

A soft silence emanates from her room door.

"Linka? You in there?"

*Groan* "Go away." Linka responds tiredly.

"Take some of the meds," Loki replies, before grabbing hold of the room door and entering his sister's private sanctum. "Bebe says they help a lot with the cramps and stuff."

"Ugh, I feel like I'm going to throw up." The girl declares, while leaning up against her wall.

*Sigh* "Ok Linka, Come on." Loki softly brings the girl's trashcan over to her, "If you need to throw up just do it in here ok?"

"Thanks Loki…" She declares, "Is there something wrong with me?"

Loki shakes his head in response, "Of course not, you're my sister, and how you're feeling is just a part of life."

The young girl smiles, "Thanks Loki. How do you know how to deal with girls when they're like this? I never thought that you would, ya know, be so knowledgeable about a girl's time and stuff."

Loki smiles in response, "Very few do, and you can thank Bebe for that." He then rubs the back of his head in embarrassment. "I kinda walked in on her when she was trying to deal with her period and stuff." He leans back against the wall, "When you spend so much time around a girl, you start to pick up on the things that you need to do make sure they feel comfortable."

Linka smiles, "Thanks again Loki."

"No prob sis." He responds, "Am I still you favorite brother?"

The young girl nods, "Yeah bro, you're still my favorite."

"Haha! Good!" Loki joyously responds, "Because of your current condition, Luke and I agreed to let me spend the day with you instead. Do you mind?"

For a moment, she hesitates, but nods anyway, "Ok then Loki, so what are we going to do today?"

"I called up Bebe and Ron Andy. They're going to meet us at the mall ok?"

Linka's face goes red in embarrassment, "Uhh, you brought Ron Andy! That's…" her voice fills with a soft care, "Actually… spending time with him sounds really nice…" While in the back of his mind he thinks, " _Dangit Lincoln! You like Ronnie Anne, back home remember! This isn't like you at all! Why the heck does his… handsome smile… strong, passionate heart… his-"_ She cuts off her own thoughts, _"Snap out of it!"_

"There's nothing better than having the guy you like and the older sister you don't have around when you need some guidance and laughs, am I right?" Loki quips, before offering the young girl his hand, "So wanna go? We don't want to keep them waiting."

The nauseous feeling dissipates from Linka and she nods, "Sure Loki, let's go now."

And with that, the duo gets up and heads out, with Loki declaring, "Hey dad, I'm leaving and taking Linka to the mall now!"

"All right son, make sure she's safe." Lynn Sr. responds with a commanding, fatherly tone.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

After the short van ride required to reach the Royal Woods Mall, the duo gets out and walks over to the main entrance, where they find Bebe and Ron Andy waiting for them.

"Heyyyy Loki." Bebe greets, before throwing her arms around her loving boyfriend.

"Hey Bebe." Loki responds, before grabbing onto her sides in a loving response.

Linka walks over to Ron and rubs the back of her head awkwardly, "Hey Ron Andy…" Her voice nervously trails off.

The boy fights his urge to blush as he greets, "Hey Linka. I heard you're doing well…"

The girl fights the urge to blush as well, "Yeah I have…"

"Ok then," Loki declares, "You know what to do Bebe, right?"

Bebe playfully punches Loki's arm, "Yeah, I know what to do, this is your little sister after all."

"Huh?" Linka tilts her head in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Loki kneels down to Linka's height and gives a soft response, "Since you're going through something us guys can't help with much, I decided that it'd be a good idea if you spent the day with another girl, one with much more experience than me or Claudia."

For a moment, Linka hesitates, unsure of what to do next, yet Ron Andy simply walks over to Loki's side, "I guess I'll stay with your bro then, Lame-O." He gains a soft, understanding air around him.

"Ok then." And so, the young girl sighs, before turning to Bebe, "So where to first?"

The older girl smiles, before taking Linka's hand and answering, "Hmm, how about we head to the hair salon? Your white hair looks like it hasn't been fixed up in ages!"

Linka smiles, "Ok then." And with that, the two girls walk into the mall, leaving the two boys alone outside.

Ron Andy then steps forward to follow… only for Loki to grab him by the collar and pull him in.

"What the heck?" The young boy goes in fear.

Loki glares at the boy, "Never call my sister Lame-O ever again. Got that, punk?" The older boy stares straight into Ron Andy's soul with that threat, to which the younger boy simply gives a frantic and terrified nod.

"Good." Loki continues, before letting go, "Now come on, let's give the girls some privacy to do their thing. Plus, I have something way more fun in mind than sitting around waiting."

"You sure it won't end up like the last time we tried to hang out?"

"The Pony deserved it though!" Loki hastily responds, "Now come on, do you really want to sit down and do nothing for the next…" Loki glances at his watch, "six hours?"

"Good point." Ron Andy responds, before turning and walking towards the Loud family van.

And with that, Loki follows and the duo drives off to whatever adventure they had in mind.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Ahh, this is amazing" Linka quips as she lets the soothing drier push the water out of her newly cleaned white hair. "I've never been to a hair salon before. Dad's worried that I'm going to get attacked if I'm not with my bros or something."

In the back of her mind though, she screams, _"Lincoln… why the heck are you enjoying getting your hair done?! It's just a waste of time!"_ But, rather than fight, her mind decides to just follow the impulse.

"I know right?! Loki takes me here every now and then because it just feels so nice." Bebe speaks with her own kind voice, "You know that if you ever need another girl to talk to, you have my number right? I don't think your dad would mind if you went out with another girl."

Linka nods, "Yeah. I just, with ten brothers I feel like this stuff is too awkward to talk about and stuff. As for dad well…" her voice trails off uncertainly.

"Haha!" Bebe goes, "Don't worry sis, I understand. Trying to talk about girl problems isn't easy, and frankly, I'm glad Loki has such a cool little sis to hang out with. And don't worry about dad problems."

"I'm just glad that Ron Andy has such a cool older sis too…" while she thinks, _"Like the sister I never had…"_ She then mentally slaps herself, _"Lincoln! You've had ten sisters! Bebe though… is like the sister you don't have here…"_

"Haha, you really like Ronnie don't you?" Bebe jokingly asks, "I can tell, you're really not good at hiding your feelings." She continues with a nostalgic tone filling her voice, "I guess you two really are meant for each other in a way or something like that."

Linka looks away and blushes, "Haha, yeah…" Then she turns to her and continues, "Hey Bebe… how did you meet Loki? He doesn't seem like the type to ya know, meet up with a girl that easily."

"There's a short story to that." Bebe responds, "Since we've got some time before the blow dryers finish doing their job, how about I tell you? And then I can give you some good advice for dealing with your period, older sister style."

Linka thinks for a moment, and nods, "Sure Bebe, I'd like that."

Bebe leans back and looks forward. A soft, comforting air overtakes them as she begins, "Well, I met your brother about a year ago, he was how do I say, the cool bad boy in the school."

"Haha!" Linka goes, "Loki? Trying to be a bad boy? That sounds hilarious!"

"You're telling me? But somehow, he still managed to get some of the girls, not me of course, I thought that he was trying too hard to be someone he wasn't." She then closes her eyes and lets herself get drawn in by the hair dryer, "Then one day, I was walking home at night when some random dude tried to attack me."

Linka's eyes go wide in surprise, "What… why?"

Bebe shrugs, "Don't know actually, I was able to fight him off, but Loki came along anyway and kicked his arse while shouting, 'No one hurts my sister on my watch!' and something like that."

"So he helped ya out?"

"Heh, yeah." Bebe responds, her voice becoming even more nostalgic while her face goes blush, "He fought him the way a trained soldier would. He's never told me why though."

The young girl shrugs, before listening closely."

"Anyways, I decided to give him a chance after that. Haha! At first he was trying to keep the bad boy façade up, but he turned out to be a big ol' softie."

"I can tell. He doesn't really seem like the bad boy type."

Bebe nods, and the two driers finish drying their long locks, "Yeah, haha, now come on, let's go do some other girl stuff." Linka smiles in response, and the two girls leave the salon with that.

A few moments of silence pass, with the two girls just taking a good look at the mall surrounding them. The large marble tiling that they walk over works beautifully with the off-white of the second floor balcony shops. Though the mall is mostly concrete, there are foggy skylights about the hallways.

After minutes of just aimlessly wandering through the mall, Linka breaks the soft silence with, "Hey Bebe, why'd you date my bro if he was such an arsehat?" she tilts her head towards her in confusion, "You don't seem to be the type to date a bad boy… even if they helped you out."

Bebe chuckles, "Well, I wouldn't normally, but after he 'rescued' me that night, I offered him the chance to date me. It was the least I could do." She then leads the girl into a nearby department store, "Under a few conditions of course."

"And those were?" Linka tilts her own head while she thinks, _"I now know why women wear these tampons... they work surprisingly well to hold off the bleeding."_

"Well for one, he had to drop the bad boy facade. He had to treat me like a lady. And he would have to treat me like he would his own sister."

Linka's head snaps to her in shock, "So he became overly protective and stuff?"

Bebe nods, "He got cleaned up and when some other boy tried to mess with me... he kicked his arse with nothing but a paperclip and some noodles."

"Haha! Seriously sis?!"

"Yep!" she responds, her voice gaining a hint of excitement, "Now let's get you some new clothes, orange is your favorite color right?"

"Yeah..." Linka nervously responds.

Bebe then responds by pulling a set of orange undies from the pile, "Then these should do, after all, you have to replace the one's you're in sometimes. I'd say, after we buy these to keep them in your purse, just in case."

Linka's face goes red, before she sheepishly responds, "Sure Bebe, sure."

Then she leans down, "And let's get you some new clothes, it's like you wear the exact same thing every day!"

"Ok then." Linka eagerly goes, _"Why does the idea of shopping for new clothes suddenly have an allure to it? Why do I now want to go through all this stuff just to see what looks good?! I have to ask William what's going on with me!"_

A few minutes later the duo walks out of there, now with several bags filled with random clothes and trinkets weighing them down. "So where to next Linka?"

"How about the spa?" Linka suggests, while her mind shouts, _"Why am I oddly ok with that? I just went yesterday with Lynn didn't I? Why is it like I've never gone before?!"_

Bebe thinks for a moment, "Sure Linka, but later. Once we go there we'll probably come out too late for the rest of the shopping!"

And so, the younger girl thinks for a moment, "Well then how about you decide then?"

"How about we go to watch a wrestling match?"

Linka just looks on in surprise.

"What? Just cause we're girls doesn't mean we can't like wrestling."

"Huh, well I guess you're right." A feeling of dread overtakes her, causing her to grab onto her and beg, "Please don't tell dad!" her mind begins to race with random thoughts, _"Why the heck did I just say that?! Why do I feel so… emotional all of a sudden?!"_

Bebe kneels down to Linka's height and responds, "Don't worry, I won't. Loki and I agreed that neither of us would speak of what happened ok?"

The younger girl wipes one of the tears that had begun to form under her eyes. "Thanks Bebe."

"No problem."

And so the two go, and watch the game.

 _ **Later...**_

"Well, I've told you everything I possibly could about Loki and I." Bebe quips, "As well as my 'time of the month' advice. So how about you girl? How'd you meet up with Ron?"

Linka blushes, "Well… we met when he started bullying me for no reason, and then I decided to try and challenge him to a fight… For some odd reason I decided to kiss him instead. Ever since then he's softened up to me and treated me really well." While she thinks, _"It's a good thing that I didn't tell my bros or else Ron Andy would probably be in the hospital. Wait, Lincoln… how do you know that?"_

"Heh, no wonder Ron's seemed more mellow since he started talking about ya. He never stops!"

"Really?"

"Yeah." Bebe's voice gains a motherly nostalgia to it, "He just goes on and on, talking about you like you're the girl of his dreams."

She smiles in response _, "I don't know why or how, but I think I just enjoyed spending six hours shopping with Bebe…"_ The duo then walks through the front entrance to the mall. _"She's just like what Bobby was to me!"_

"Anyways, when you want to go out and do some things, as well as 'stop' the bleeding when you go out, make sure to use and carry some tampons ok? As for the cramps and pain, use the meds Loki gave you, all right? They help make the week bearable"

Linka nods, "Thanks Bebe, I wish my brothers knew half of the things you taught me."

"No prob girl, if you ever need some advice from another girl, or just someone to talk to, you know who to call."

Linka smiles once more, and with that Vanzilla rolls into the parking lot.

The two boys inside look like they had just been through a tornado of adventure with… whatever they came back from. While the third, Cristopher, simply opens the passenger side door, steps out and looks at Linka with traumatized eyes.

"Ahh!" He screams, "I just read a story in which you had a twin sister and you went too far with her! The internet named her 'Liberty'!" Then, he nervously runs off, continuing to scream in terror.

"Uhh… what was that?" Linka stammers, only for Ron and Loki to shrug and the older boy to shrug, "Don't know, we picked him up and he's just been like that."

The two girls just shrug in response.

"Anyways guys, what have you been doin?" Bebe jokingly asks, as she gets in the passenger side seat next to Loki.

"Don't ask… all you need to know is that it involved some determination, a flower, duct tape and a small pony… again."

Linka raises an eyebrow as she takes the seat next to Ron, "Care to explain?"

"Nope, it's going in the pile of stories we won't talk about unless we are asked to by the authorities, along with the last time we hung out together."

"If you two hanging out together is so dangerous, why do you do it?" Bebe curiously asks, to which Loki whole-heartedly responds, "Because sometimes, we need more chaos to make our normal chaos easier to pull off."

 _"One day I will see what he does with Ron in his free time."_ Linka thinks, before giving a soft sigh, _"Why do I feel so weird… I shouldn't like Ron, I'm a boy… but I can't help but feel like I actually like him. At least I have Bebe to talk to, so that helps. I've been going along with it to prevent suspicions but…"_

"So did you like hanging out with Bebe, Linka?" Loki calmly asks, bringing her back to reality.

The young girl quickly nods, "Yeah! We should do this again sometime!"

"Haha, that's great."

And with that, the group drives off… not noticing the flakes of snow beginning to fall.

3-1-4-5-20 13-1-10-15-18 12-15-11-9 12-15-21-4 18-5-16-15-18-20-9-14-7 6-15-18 4-21-20-25 19-9-18!

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! As always, try to guess what story is coming next! As well as any prompts you'd like to see done!**

 **Also, since I'm a guy, if I was in any way, shape or form inaccurate with my depiction, I ask that you point out my mistake and PM me about how I can be more accurate. Thank you!**

 **Lastly, I thank those who made the TvTropes page for this! I never expected that people would like this story that much! Thank you all!**


	10. Holidays In Dimension 63

**A/N Merry Christmas! Anyways, since I promised that I wouldn't miss an update, here's a Christmas one-shot!**

 **I hope you guys enjoy! R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: What do the Dimension 63i'\ Louds do to prepare for Christmas? (This was neither requested nor planned. Just done because it's Christmas!)**_

Story Ten: Holidays In Dimension 63

" _ **Rockin' round the warm golden bells! Graceful life for all to tells! It's Christmas time and what way to go! We'll celebrate the season with a nice quick bow!"**_

"You and me, we've no where to go so let's stay under the tree!" Linka cheerfully sings as she carefully skins the carrots and chops them into small slices. "There's plenty of fun that we can have we're all together!"

Then, the young girl collects the newly diced ingredients and turns to her mother, "Like this mom?"

"Yes honey, those are perfect. Now just add them to the stew and we can move onto the next all right?" Rita carefully slices the strands of beef she had acquired for their meal, "Once you cut the potatoes, I'll be able to make enough beef stew to last us till Christmas and then some!"

"Got it mom!" Then, the young girl grabs her cutting board, cleans it off, and grabs the sac of potatoes left by the door, _"Wow Lincoln, this is really fun! Mom rarely asked us to help her cook! Then again, dad usually did all the cooking on his own so…"_ She shakes her head and pulls the overly heavy sack and attempts to drag it… only for the heavy bag to stay firmly planted.

"Let me get that for you sis." Loki happily declares, as walks over to his struggling sister.

With minimal effort on his part, he quickly lifts the sack and brings it over to Linka's part of the counter.

Linka looks at her brother in shock for a moment, before smiling, "Thanks Loki! You're the best!"

"No probs Linka." He nonchalantly responds.

"By the way, why are you in… well that?" She motions at his semi-formal clothes. He wears a white, long-sleeved button-down shirt and black pants with a white stripe, "I never see you dress up, even for dates with Bebe."

Loki answers, "That's because I'm going to perform at a military wedding today. I actually need to get my berette before I head out." Then he checks his watch, "Though, I have to head out soon since the wedding starts in a couple hours."

"Oh…" Linka goes sadly, "No problem, I understand. I was just looking forward to you teaching me how to spin that gun of yours today…"

"It's not a gun sis, it's a rifle." Loki playfully pats his younger sister's head, causing her already messed up locks to end up ruffled, "And don't worry sis, I'll teach ya later. Plus, I'll be able to get you a Christmas present on the way home!"

Linka smiles, "Ok then Loki, good luck!"

"Thanks sis!" The young man responds, before turning and heading back upstairs.

The young girl then returns to her station and gets back to peeling the potatoes with, "Hey mom, how many potatoes do I need to peel anyways?

"You need to peel forty-two. We need enough stew to last us Christmas after all! With twenty-one family members, the tables are going to be filled to the brim!" Rita's calm, motherly voice is soothing to the young girl's ears.

" _Forty-two potatoes, here I go!"_ She thinks, _"yeah, I didn't have to cook this much back home, but hey, it could be way worse. When preparing for Christmas, my bro reminded me that I wasn't expected to get them presents, thank goodness, but I had to make them a great meal!"_ She carefully peels the skin off the vegetable, before putting it in a bowl of water and moving onto the next. _"And since I'm not able to go out that much… Yeah, I'd probably be only able to get Lynn and possibly Loki something."_

Her face is overcome by nervousness, _"I don't mind Linka's bro's treating me like this… but I feel oddly accepting of everything now. At least mom treats me the same way! It's probably the one of the few reason why I haven't broken down yet!"_

" _Though…_ mom _really wants to teach me how to cook for some reason, and seems really invested in my learning of home Ec and stuff."_ She smiles, _"I guess having only one daughter made her want to spend time with me more."_

"Ok Linka, once you finish peeling those, go take a break. We'll mix them all up when I finish preparing the meat." Rita calmly declares, before she places the strips of cured beef in a glass tray and begins to season them.

"Got it mom!" Linka excitedly goes, as she takes her peeler and continues on.

That's when Luke pops in with a determined smile on his face. "Hey mom, Linka, how long until Lunch is ready?"

"It'll be ready in about an three hours, I just have to boil the meat while Linka finishes the potatoes. Why you ask?" Rita responds, as she carefully places an array of spices on the meat.

"I just wanted to make sure I knew how much work time I've got! I don't wanna miss lunch cause of song writing again after all! Beef stew is my favorite!" The young man responds, before strumming his guitar, "Plus, just for reference, writing a Christmas themed song is hard."

That's when Lars appears, startling the kids, while Rita just stands by, "You think that's hard Luke? Try writing a Christmas-themed story when you have no ideas for one. I'm trying to either write a story about a boy with a ton of messed up siblings trying to enjoy the holiday or one with a girl and a boy visiting Santa and having to fight a demon."

The three family members just stare at Lars with concern for a moment, before their mother speaks, "Well then Luke, I need you to take Leon for a bit, maybe he could help you with your music block."

Luke shrugs, "Ok mom, where is he?"

"Poo-poo!" Leon shouts.

"Well, that answers that question, ok mom, you can count on me!" Luke declares, before securing his guitar on his back, grabbing his youngest brother and running upstairs to his room as well.

"Sigh, if you need me I'll-" Lars starts, only for Rita to cut him off with, "Hmm, Lars, I need you and Lexx to go get the Christmas tree. Your dad is at a business meeting and he won't be home till later."

"What mom?!" Lexx rushes into the kitchen in surprise, "Why do I have to go get the tree?!"

Rita smiles and rubs her six-year-old son's head, "Because you have an eye for detail Lexx, and I can't send Loni or else he'll come home with one painted gold, again… Plus, you accidentally used the Christmas tree to unclog the toilet last year, remember?"

"Oh… right…" Lexx rubs the back of his, the images of the messed up tree surfacing in his mind, "But then why is Lars coming with me?!"

"Because, Lars needs inspiration for his Christmas story and what better why than to actually go and get Christmas stuff?"

"Sigh, fine, I'll go with him." Lars begrudgingly declares, before grabbing Lexx and pulling him away, much to the younger boy's disdain.

"Good luck you two!" Linka cheerfully responds, as she watches her two brothers walk out of the house.

A few moments pass, with the mother and daughter working diligently to get the stew done. After all, Christmas dinner has more than just beef stew made for it!

"Hey mom, why are you and dad so well… watchful of me?" Linka nervously asks, her voice filled with fear at her mother's retribution.

Yeah, Rita simply smiles in response, "Because Linka, we worry for you. You're our only daughter and we don't know what we'd do if something were to happen to you." The woman looks away, as if trying to hold back tears, "We want to protect you, and your brothers want to protect you too."

" _I wonder why though…_ " Linka thinks, while she asks, "Mom, why are you crying?" She then finishes peeling potato number forty-two with that.

The woman wipes the tears that had formed and responds, "It's nothing, now, go check up on your brothers, they're sure to be having fun and would probably love to have their sister involved."

"But I haven't finished peeling yet?"

"Yes you have."

Immediately, Linka looks to her side, only to find the empty sac of potatoes labeled, "Jump-jump industries."

"Huh, well ok then. Whatever you say mom." Linka's voice is filled with curiosity as she steps out of the kitchen and walks over to the back door. Then, she grabs her jacket and steps out, only to find Levi and Leif spending time together… how odd.

"Hey guys!" Linka cheerfully greets, before trudging through the snow and approaching her younger brothers. "Whatcha' doin'?"

Leif looks up and stops tapping at his duel disk, "I was just about to use the ARC system to move the snow around a bit and make some huge hills! After all, dad wants us clean the backyard so that our Christmas party has room!"

"Huh, ok then." The young girl turns to her second-youngest brother with, "Uhh, Levi, what are you doing?"

Levi then tries… and fails to throw a snowball at Linka. He quickly recomposes himself and answers, "I was just testing the consistency of the snow so I can create a fully-auto-atomic machination that can help me in our family snowball fights."

"English Levi." Leif goes in annoyance, to which the scientist responds, "I'm building a snowball fighting robot because my four-year-old muscles are unable to throw a snowball well enough to do any damage."

Linka chuckles, _"Haha! Lisa can cream Levi in a snowball fight then! I miss her…"_

"Wanna join in sis?" Leif asks, "I'm always up for a duel you know. Plus, we can use the monsters we summon to clean up the snow and mess we'll make!"

Immediately, Linka's body tenses up, as if urging her against the idea of playing such a masculine game.

Yet, Linka's body doesn't win this time! And she responds, "Ok Leif, let's do it!" before putting her own on.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

Linka and Leif both crash into the snow, their short match ending in a draw.

"Haha! That was fun Linka!" Leif excitedly declares, "You're getting better at this!"

"Yeah," She responds, as she pulls herself from the snow, "But I've still got a lot to learn." while she thinks, _"I was still holding back, I think. I felt like my body was constantly telling me to stop for some reason…"_

Then she stretches, "Anyways guys, I'm heading back inside, k?"

"No prob sis, see you later!" Leif responds, while Levi continues working. And with that, Linka walks back inside.

"Eureka!" Levi declares as his newly completed robot springs to life. "I'm done! My snowball robot is finally ready!"

His creation is about Loki's height, with golden, triangular body that ends with a silver tip at its end. On its back are small, box-like engines and a golden winding key. On its sides are its long, pincer-like purple arms, connected to random gears. Its head is mechanical, similar to what one would see from a robot-fighting anime.

After the gears spin to life, its eyes begin to glow a sinister scarlet.

"Uhh, is it supposed to have glowing red-eyes?" Leif raises his duel disk fearfully.

"Haha!" Levi goes, before pulling out a set of controls, "I will win the snowball war!"

"Crud…" Leif goes, before his duel disk jolts to life, "Well then, I guess I draw!"

Levi just stares at him in confusion, "We're not dueling!"

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Linka quietly heads up the Loud House stairs, only to run into Loni carrying an overly large sack.

"Hey Loni." She greets, "What's are you doing to prepare for Christmas?"

"I'm decorating! Since I'm so good at it, mom and dad decided that it would be a great idea to let me do all the decorating so they could do what they needed to!" Loni speaks with an ecstatic voice, as if he had been waiting for this opportunity for months.

"Huh, well what's in the bag?"

"Just my supplies!" Loni then throws the bag in front of his kid sister and opens it, revealing all of the sibling's spare clothing.

Linka looks at the bag in shock for a moment, before looking up at Loni, "Uhh, Loni, you know that you can't use our clothes for decorations right?"

Loni stares at her obliviously for a moment, before shaking his head, "No, I didn't." Then he perks up and continues, "Oh well then! I'll just go and use something else then!" Then he turns, and drags the sack back into his room.

"Huh, that was strange…" Linka quips, before turning and walking into Lynn and Lars' room… only to find Lynn and Lane preparing to head out.

"Hey guys, whatcha' doin?"

"Oh hey Linka, we were just about to head to an eggnog drinkin' contest! The prize is uhh…" He looks at Lane with a nervous gaze. Immediately, clown boy springs to action and places a hand over Lynn's mouth, "It's money! The prize is money!"

The girl tilts her head in confusion, before shrugging, "Ok then, good luck I guess."

"Oh don't worry Linka, we'll be fine!" Lynn jumps up and hugs his sister, "Plus, we'll be able to buy the family's presents today!" Then he playfully punches her arm, "You're lucky you don't have to get us stuff."

"Why is that though?"

Lynn shrugs, "I think dad just wants to make sure us boys have some practice getting a girl presents before we start trying to date them."

"Huh, I see." Linka nervously quips, "So I guess this contest will give you more than enough to prepare?"

"Yeah!" Lynn excitedly responds, "Drinkin' eggnog to get some cash!"

"Huh, ok then." Then she turns to Lane, "Wait, why are you going with him Lane?"

"Cause unlike the milk you can't make yet, I love eggnog!"

Linka's face goes red in embarrassment, before she stands up straight, turns around and quickly walks out of the room.

"Dangit Lane." Lynn shouts, before hitting Lane in the back of the head, why the heck did you try to joke like that?! You know how Linka feels about that topic! You probably reminded her of her… 'problem'."

"What! I meant no harm!" Lane quickly responds.

"Still, you have to remember Lane!" Lynn simply glares at him in response, before walking out of his room, "Now come on, the contest is in a half hour. We need to be there now."

Lane nods and follows his younger brother.

A few away, Linka quietly enters her room and closes the door behind her, _"I just realized that this is my first Christmas away from home…"_ she slides down her door and curls up against it, _"I wonder how my sisters are doing? I haven't thought about them much since Christmas started and William gave me that mission."_

With that, the young girl stands up and opens her drawers, "Let's see, weird device, the matter key watch, ah ha!" Her heart races in excitement, as she pulls out a familiar set of goggles.

"Let's see what's happening back home shall we? They should be preparing for Christmas too!" Linka whispers, as she sets up the goggles and attempts to boot the device up… only for GLaDOS to declare:

" _ **Warning: Liquid Divinium Reserves empty."**_

"Wow." Linka quips, "I really have been using these a lot…"

"You know Lincoln, maybe it would be a good idea to look for the first MacGuffin fragment? After all, you've nothing better to do." William suddenly appears, and tips his top hat at her.

Linka jumps up in shock, "Don't do that man!"

"My apologies, I forgot that your current body is starting to change you in more ways than you expect."

"You're not going to explain why are you?"

"Of course not. If I did, then things wouldn't be interesting."

Linka sighs, "I would look for it, but I don't know what you meant by, 'The first piece is in a room of secrets'."

"Heh, you children today are so naïve. To find the first part, you must your instinct. You want to go home don't you?"

"Of course I do William!" Linka angrily responds, "But you're not helping much!"

"Haha! Well for now, that will be the case!" Then, he pulls out a vial of blue liquid, "Here, it seems you need some more liquid Divinium to power those dimensional goggles! Be careful with them, the more you use them, the more likely the Anomaly Elimination Unit is going to follow your trail and try to seal you away again! As well as more anomalies will start to pop up!"

Linka takes the vial in hand. "Thanks I guess…"

"Don't worry, I'm doing my best to keep both at bay while you search, but even I know I will not be able to hold them back forever."

"Got it, I'll get back to looking soon!"

William nods, "Good girl," Then he tips his top hat at her, "Merry Christmas, I wish you good luck in your quest. Oh, and something's coming around New Year's." And with that, the guardian disappears.

"Merry Christmas to you too."

" _Strange…"_ Linka thinks, as she uncaps the vial and connects the vial to her goggles, " _Well, let's see how Linka's doing back home._ " And with that, she locks in and begins viewing reality C-137 once again.

 _ **Back with Loki...**_

The young man brushes off his black-paint drill rifle with white strands of tape holding the worn parts together. He was used to the hustle and bustle of a performance, after all, he was the drill team captain of his unit until his graduation just a few short years ago!

This was the first time he had been asked to perform at a formal event, not as a team member, but as the entertainment. A sense of dread overtook the young man when he accepted this job. Yet, he was determined, his team's victory in the nation competition proved that. And by the grace of whoever guides people, he was not going to mess this up.

"Ok Loki, game time, let's get to work." He checks the shine on his shoes as well as the brass on his belt once more, before he walks over to the venue's entrance. He peers out for a moment, and nods at the MC, who proceeds to call, _**"Party guests! The entertainment is ready to perform! Please remain silent as we watch National Drill Soloist, and finalist at the world drill competition, Loki Loud, perform today!"**_

Immediately a hush falls upon the room, it's modern design illuminated the space that he was given to perform. _"Remember Loki, no pain, no regret, no remorse, no shame."_ With his motto spoken, he secures his barrette, raises his weapon, and clears his mind.

Two stomps: the signal that he was beginning to perform. He spins with his slap, before spinning the weapon in the air with an effortless grace, before he stops in front of the head table, and holds his rifle sling-side facing the newly wed couple.

With a strong, commanding voice he declares, "Mr. and Mrs. Diaz! My name is Loki Loud and I have come to perform. I respectfully request to utilize your drill deck, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz!"

The newly wed man gives a simple salute in response, while his wife says, "Permission granted, please proceed!"

And with that, Loki shouts, "Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz!" Then, he begins his routine.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Ugh!" Lexx groans as he trudges through the Royal Woods snow, "Where the heck re we going to find a tree on December 23rd?!"

"I don't know Lexx, but whatever we find should be more than enough to inspire me to write another story. I've only been able to put about a day's work into this and I'm currently stuck… Though I have decided to write the fanfiction about the boy and a magical princess from another dimension."

Lexx turns to his brother in surprise, "I didn't know you watched those kinds of shows."

"I don't. One of my friends begged me to do it for them, and said he'd pay me twenty bucks and give me a deck of duel monsters cards if I did so."

"Ahh, so that's why you need inspiration."

Lars nods, "Yeah, now come on, we're almost at the Christmas tree store."

And a few moments later, they reach the store, and find two familiar girls buying a tree as well.

"Hey Nala!" Lexx greets the smaller girl. The young girl has blonde hair and wears light-pink overalls.

In response, she turns and cheerfully responds, "Hey Lexx! What brings you here?"

"I just came to get a tree with my bro here." Then he motions at Lars, "He's a bit of a downer though, but don't let that put you off!"

"Oh really?" Nala goes in surprise; "I came to get a tree with my sister as well! How about we let our siblings meet while we have some private times together?"

Lexx blushes, "Sure Nala." Before he turns and grabs Lars, while Nala grabs her own sister.

"Lars, this is Nala and here sister."

Nala responds by motioning at an equally gloomy girl, "This is Culy!"

"So this is that girl you were trying to impress with that play."

"And this is the boy who got you to watch that well-written play."

The two youngsters respond, "Yep!"

The two gloomy kids then look at each other for a short moment, before looking away and blushing. "Wanna go do some, I don't know, writing Culy?" Lars suggests, and Culy responds, "Sure… I think I might like that."

And with that, they walk away.

"Haha!" Lexx laughs, before Nala grabs his hand, "Now let's have some fun too!"

And with that, she drags him away. Who knows what those six-year-olds will do?

 _ **Back at the house...**_

Luke stands before his baby brother, desperately trying to pull out the right instrument to use to write his Christmas song.

"Leon, what do you think? Hard rock guitar or heavy metal guitar?" He weighs both, as tries to decide which to use, "Though, I was considering using my Lancaster, though I'm worried I'm going to scratch it."

The baby shakes his head in response, "Poo-poo."

"What do you mean, that none of those will work?!"

Leon flails his arms in response, "Poo-poo! Poo-poo-poo!" Before he speaks random baby gibberish.

"You want me to try and make a simple Christmas song that doesn't explode the roof off the house?" Luke repeats, probably because his baby-ese wasn't the best.

"Poo-poo!" The baby responds, before motioning at his acoustic guitar, dusty from lack of use.

"And you want me to try it on acoustic?"

The baby nods.

Luke rubs the back of his head nervously, "I'm not sure bro… I haven't played acoustic in years. It was harder to make it more energetic and stuff."

Yet, Leon just stares at him in disappointment, "Poo-poo." Then he points, "Poo-poo!"

"Oh?! You think I can't do it huh?! You think I'm too unskilled to play an acoustic? Well that's where you're wrong bro! I can play any instrument I want!" Then he angrily grabs the guitar off and holds it.

Its light compared to what he was used to using, its soft wood is pleasant to the touch, while its strings were still in tune.

" _This feels strange…"_ He thinks, before strumming, _"Well then, I hope you're right Leon, I'm going to have to perform this tomorrow!"_

 _ **Meanwhile, outside...**_

Just a few feet away from the oddly soothing, yet random array of sounds, Leif rides on a hard-light robot bird as he tries to escape the snowball robot.

"Levi! You've gone insane!" He shouts, "Blaze Falcon, fly faster, you have to dodge its attacks!"

Yet, the young scientist responds, "Never! I won't relent until you come crashing down! I will win the snowball war if it's the last thing I do!"

"You're crazy Levi!"

"No, I'm determined to win!" Levi shouts, before pointing at the bird, "Zenmaines, destroy that bird!"

Then the robot grabs two pincer-fulls of snow and hurls them at Leif, covering Blaze falcon in snow.

Immediately, the bird begins to fall, taking Leif along with it.

Yet, the six-year-old is unfazed as he shouts, "Dangit! I play Rank-Up-Magic Raptor's Force!" He shoves his card in his disk again, causing the snow-covered falcon to engulf in flames as he shouts, "Fiercest falcon! Set your wings ablaze and lock your gaze on our ill-fated foes! Now make it so! Rank-up Xyz evolution! Emerge, RaidRaptor Revolution Falcon!"

Immediately, the metal behemoth with thin, metal wings and a triangular body and a bird-like head, breaks through the ice and catches Leif on its back. "Well Levi, let's see how you fair when I turn up the heat!"

Levi adjusts his glasses and simply responds, "I knew that you'd try to fight using duel monsters, so I made sure to add an upgraded form to my snowball-bot!" he taps away at he controls, causing the ARC System to engulf it in flames as well, "Come forth Ultimate Warrior! So that I may use your strength to defeat my siblings! Emerge from fire, Arsenal Zenmaioh!"

"Uh-oh." Leif responds, "I'm not giving up yet!"

 _ **On The Other Side of Royal Woods...**_

" _ **Welcome one and all! To the forty-second annual Royal Woods Eggnog drinking contest!"**_ The announcer declares, before motioning at the group of thirty competitors, _**"We're gathered today to watch our competitors fight for the title of biggest drinker! And win…"**_

The curtains part upon a glass case, with a single, royal blue stuffed bear with a pink ascot and golden wings, _**"The one-of-a-kind Royal Fluffal Bear!"**_

The two boys turn to each other, determination filling their eyes.

"Remember Lane, for Linka all right?" Lynn confirms.

"Yeah Lynn, for Linka!" He responds, "This is going to be an egg-cellent match!"

" _ **Competitors, on your mark, get set, go!"**_ And with that, the two brothers as well as their twenty-eight opponents jump into action.

" _Chug, throw, grab, chug, repeat!"_ The two boys think as they rush through their glasses and the counters begin to count the glasses they drink.

It only takes a minute before the first competitor falls, and another for the next. One-by-one the wheat is sorted from the chaff.

And soon enough, Lynn and Lane remained, their vision starting to blur from the excess nutmeg they were ingesting. Yet, they wouldn't give in to defeat. They had to get that stuffed animal, or else their father's fury would be upon them for not getting Linka a gift!

" _ **And that's time!**_ " The announcer shouts in excitement, causing the remaining four competitors to stop in their tracks.

"We did it!" Lane cheerfully shouts, as they turn to face their final opponents.

"Hey, I'm Lynn." The male athlete greets.

"I'm Nyln." The girl responds, her red shirt with orange sleeves and a white "1" nearly glows in the noon sun.

Her sister goes, "And I'm Auln!" And she wears a yellow blouse and white skirt, with a blue flower attached.

"And I'm Lane. It looks like you're-" He starts, only for Lynn to slap his mouth shut. "Don't mind him girls, good luck next round!"

"Good luck to you too." Nyln calmly responds, "We will win that toy!"

* * *

Loki spins his weapon as if it were an extension of his arm. He moves with a precision known only to those whom have trained for years. _"Left, right, left, right. Keep the beat."_ He thinks as he moves forward and prepares to perform his show-stopping trick.

With a single and strong turn, he slams the weapon to the ground and gives a closed fist salute, "Mr. and Mrs. Diaz! This completes my presentation, I hope you enjoyed the show and I wish you the best in your marriage! I now respectfully wish to leave your drill deck, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz!"

Just like before, the man returns the salute while the woman responds, "Thank you! Permission granted."

Then, with a final kick, he sends the weapon over his shoulder, before taking hold of it and forcing it up.

Then, he turns around and takes a knee, with his right hand in hand salute and left behind his back.

It lands with a loud *slap* and pain shoots through the young man's arm, Loki does not budge.

The venue erupts in applause as Loki throws the rifle back around and marches out of the room.

" _Awesome!"_ Loki thinks as he wipes the sweat from his brow, and a blonde girl approaches him with, "Hi, I'm Roli."

"Hey, I'm Loki." The boy responds, before packing up his rifle.

"That was pretty awesome!"

"Yeah, it was."

Then, the girl hands him a number, "Call me!" before she runs off.

"Huh… weird." He quips, "Bebe is going to get so jealous!"

* * *

"Perfect!" Lexx declares as both he and Nala grab trees from the line.

"Not as perfect as you Lexx." Nala affectionately goes, "How'd you enjoy our little make-out session?"

Lexx blushes, "I thought I wouldn't like messy, but you've made me change my mind." Then he comes closer to her, as if preparing to give another kiss… Only for Lars and Culy to appear and greet, "Hey you two, we've managed to get passed our writer's blocks for once."

Predictably, the two 6-year-olds jump back in shock.

"Lars!"

"Culy!"

Then together they shout, "Don't do that!"

"Sorry." Lars responds, "I'm just excited because I've finally been able to do something I was struggling to do properly."

"And I have finally been able to write that weird poem about winter and stuff."

"Good job then you two." Lars responds, while Nala grabs hold of her chosen tree.

"Anyways you guys, we've got our trees, let's get out of here ok?"

The boys nod in agreement and the girls respond, "Keep in touch you two!"

And with that, Lexx and Lars grab hold of their tree and head home as well, their Christmas mission now complete.

* * *

"Ok Leon, I just need a few more lyrics and I'll have the whole song!" Luke declares, his voice filling with excitement, "I never knew you could be so helpful when songwriting bro!"

"Poo-poo!" Leon responds, before adding a random array of baby gibberish to the mix, as well as flailing his arms around in excitement.

With an excited voice, Luke responds, "I completely understand little bro." Then he raises his acoustic guitar once more and steels his nerves, "You ready for this Leon? I'm going to go through the whole song in one go and I need to make sure you're good."

The baby nods, "Poo-poo."

"You got it!" Then he begins to strum, "It's winter time and here to stay! It's Christmas time and we're here to play! Who needs one-hundred and four days of summer vacation and school to come along and end it, when you've got a month-long break, to sit down relax enjoy the hot mo-shakes!"

Leon looks at Luke in annoyance, "Poo-poo!"

"What is it Leon?'

"Poo-poo!" Then he adds more random baby gibberish.

"Ahh, I see." Then he writes in the suggested changes and rereads the script, "You sure this'll make sense? I mean I'm not sure about it and stuff."

Leon simply gives an annoyed expression in response.

"Ok, ok, fine you're right, I should just shut up and try it, what's the worst that could happen anyways?"

He then gears up and strums more, "Christmas isn't about the gifts, it's about the love that you give. It's not about the tree; it's about the life you bring. It's more than just a simple event; it's a way of life! And when you live it together with me, you'll never know what it'll bring."

Then, Luke grabs his electric guitar and strums harder, "It's Christmas time and we're ready to rock! With ten boys and one girl the Louds are here to play! We'll fight for one another and we'll get the best too! We're the Louds and Christmas time!" He finishes with a final, more powerful strum.

"Poo-poo!" Leon claps in joy, and his older brother takes him in arm, "You liked that huh?"

Leon nods.

"Good, now how about we get some grub?"

"Poo-poo." Leon goes and with that, the two brothers leave the room.

* * *

"Stellar Cannon Bombardment!" Leif raises his disk against the metal behemoth, "Go Satellite Cannon Falcon! Use your power and destroy Levi's snowball robot!"

Immediately, the massive metal bird flies up and boosts its way into the stratosphere, before firing a laser from orbit in an attempt to destroy Levi's creation. Yet, the scientist simple responds, ", defend!"

And the robot responds by raising a hardlight shield, which absorbs the stellar attack.

The robot falcon returns to Leif with that.

"Now my robot, drown them in snowballs!" And immediately, the mechanical monster fires a flurry of its ammo, overwhelming the bird, causing it to crash once again.

Yet, Leif doesn't give up and he declares, "Ok then! I play Rank-Up-Magic Soul Shave Force! Revive Satellite Cannon Falcon!"

Immediately, the once destroyed cyborg bird returns to the field, before flying into a new black hole.

"Falcon of Ultimate creation! Carry on the wishes of your fallen allies and soar into victorious skies! Rank-up Xyz evolution! Emerge, RaidRaptor Ultimate Falcon!"

From a field of darkness, a massive bird appears, its six, metal, golden wings outstretched as its golden tail opens up and its archetype insignia glows with power.

"Haha! I'll just take that out too!" Levi whole-heartedly declares, "Go, evolution change!" immediately, the giant fighting robot comes together and transforms. "Robot, focus your power into a weapon capable of defeating all! Become, my Super Dreadnaught Rail Cannon: Superior Dora!"

And from the robot, a massive cannon comes forth and aims at Leif and his bird.

"Yet, Leif doesn't back down."

"Go! Final Glorious Pride!" He commands, and the majestic cyborg bird charges up a single ball of energy, outlined like a mini galaxy.

Then he fires.

"Deflect it!" Levi orders, and the robot fires its own cannon in an attempt to stop and counter the attack, but to no avail, the robot isn't strong enough and the ball of energy breaks passed it, and crashes destroying Levi's creation.

"Good game Levi, but it's not a good idea to mess with the king of snowball fights!" Then, he looks around the backyard, "Plus, we finished plowing the yard!"

"I will get you one day!" Levi angrily declares, before turning, "That was fun, how about we duel for real later?"

"You're not going to try and kill me again?"

"Nope! Now come on, lets head off into the house."

Leif shrugs, "Ok then."

And with that, the two boys return to the home.

* * *

After close to one hundred glasses of eggnog, both Lynn and Nyln sit back in exhaustion.

*Groan* "This is the first time I've struggled to beat someone." Lynn declares.

Nyln responds, "Same here."

Both Lane and Auln lie on the ground unconscious, no doubt from the excess nutmeg.

"Now we just have to wait and see who passes out first." Lynn declares and Nyln responds, "I won't give out eas-" And with that, the girl falls to the ground in defeat.

" _ **And the winner is, Lynn Loud Jr.!"**_ The announcer excitedly declares, before bringing the bear over to the young boy.

"Awesome." He quips, before leaning back in exhaustion.

A few minutes later, Nyln, Lane and Auln get up from their nutmeg-induced comas. That when Nyln says, "Nice job mate, here's our numbers, call us sometime."

Then, Auln hands the boys some pieces of paper, before the two girls walk away.

"Bro, I think we just got ourselves some girlfriends!" Lynn declares, his heart racing, though he wasn't sure if it was from the eggnog or the news that someone didn't find him too crazy.

Lane's jaws simply drop in shock.

"Now come on, we have to tell someone!" And with that, the duo rushes back home as well.

 _ **Later…**_

"Mmm!" Lynn Sr. goes as he takes a mouthful of the beef stew his wife and daughter had made. "Great job you two! You've really outdone yourselves this time." Then he looks at his sons, "So while your mother and sister were busy preparing this meal, what were you boys doing?"

After a day filled with randomness, it helps to have a nice dinner made by your mom and sister to much on. The Loud bros knew this fact well. The tree Lexx and Lars acquired stands tall in the living room, its branches decorated by Loni's random design choices. Loki's drill rifle rests under it, still packed up with that random girl's number inside. The bros sit around the table simply talking, eating, and having a good time, before the Chaos of Christmas Eve came out. Yet, despite the laughs, Linka sits by, her mind still processing what she had seen from her latest viewing of home.

Loki smiles at his father, "Today was a weird day."

"Yeah." Lynn responds.

Loni shrugs, "It was pretty uneventful for me."

"Well, I expect you most of you to speak, so how about I start with you Loki?"

The eldest responds, "The performance went on without a hitch, and some random girl gave me her number."

"I see, and Loni?"

"I've finished decorating the house!" The young man ecstatically responds.

Lynn nods, "Good job son, Luke?"

The rock star responds, "Finished the song for the party tomorrow night!"

"Good. Lane and Lynn?"

Lynn speaks, "We got our presents ready!"

Lynn Sr. smiles, "Good, Linka?"

Immediately, Linka snaps back to reality, "Oh, uhh, mom and I finished the food for the Christmas Eve family dinner!"

Luke looks at his sister in confusion, _"I wonder what's up with her..."_

The man smiles, "Good," Then he turns to Rita, "Great work girls!"

"Yes honey." Rita affectionately responds, "Everything's set for tomorrow night!"

And with that, the Louds get to eating!

 _While Linka thinks, "Ahh, at least holidays in the Loud House haven't changed. I was starting to miss the chaos my sisters brought with them! Though… I wonder what'll come during New Years…"_

20-8-5 1-14-15-13-1-12-25 7-9-18-12-19 23-9-19-8 25-15-21 1-12-12 1 13-5-18-18-25 3-8-18-9-19-20-13-1-19

 **A/N Well guys, I hope you all enjoyed the Christmas chapter! I thank Exotos for his help! I had so little time to finish cause of Unwavering Bonds's chapter 3, plus I was a bit down because no one said anything about story 9, but hey, I managed and I got over it! I hope you guys enjoyed! And as usual, feel free to send in prompts you'd like to see done! And I wonder who can guess what's next! And don't worry, it's** **story related and less one-shot based.**

 **Btw, this story was originally going to have Linka meet Santa and stuff. But then I realized that, it's Christmas fic, and I wanted to save the craziness for the next story, hint: it involves a guitar! Also, would you guys prefer I move updates to Saturdays or keep them on Sundays?**

 **Merry Christmas everyone!**


	11. Rockin' The Loud House

**A/N Hey guys! I'm back, and finally feeling better! So what better way to kick start writing this year than to post the next chapter and get back to the plot?! Happy New Year! Also, thank you for making this my most reviewed story of all time! And with review number 100 coming soon, I'm excited for what the new year brings! Thank you for your support! I hope you enjoy my first story of the new year!**

 **As Always, R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Luke finally spends some time with Linka, just as he promised! Though, things don't go as planned. "L**_ _ **incoln/Linka joins Luna/Luke at the arcade and try to reach 1,000,000 points on Guitar Hero? Luna/Luke slowly being jealous that Lincoln/Linka is better at the game the she/he is even though it a music based video game." (Requested by Sunblast-X). Also "Luke/Luke OTP" (Exotos135).**_

Story Eleven: Rockin' The Loud House

"Girls! You ready?!" The Lincoln Loud shouts with excitement filling his voice, as he slides down the Loud House stairs. Then, as he hits the end bottom, he jumps, he jumps backflips, and lands with his arms outstreched, showing off his pink sweater, designed with a star and an accompanying rainbow trail. As well as a purple skirt and pink headband "If we don't hurry up they'll be out!"

"Calm down twerp, there's going to be plenty of chocolate left behind." Lori responds with her typical, uncaring tone as she walks down the stairs, followed by the other nine siblings.

Luan cuts in, "And if they don't, we'll be fudged!" and then breaks out into laughter

Immediately, Lola jumps up and covers Luan's mouth with her glove, "Don't jinx it Luan! You know how much we need that chocolate! Dad's spare reserves ran out last week and we're about to go into withdrawal!" Then she turns to her brother, "You remember what happened when you took all of the chocolate in the house for your project once, don't you?!"

Lincoln gives a sheepish smile in response, "Of course I do! I was so scared!"

Luna gives her guitar a soft strum, "So sis, what would you like to do today, after we hit the mall of course."

Lincoln thinks for a moment, before responding, "How about we go to Dairyland? We haven't gone in a while and I really want to-" he then goes into the skirt pocket and pulls out a flier for a new ride, with twists, turns and a one-hundred foot drop! "Ride the new coaster! It's based off my favorite show!"

"Like, what show is your fave Linc?" Leni asks in excitement, "You like, never told us!"

Lucy appears behind Lincoln, causing the sisters to jump in shock "I always assumed that your fave was ARGGH!" she pulls out his ghost hunting gear, "After all, you do watch it on a regular basis."

"Nah Luce," Lincoln waves his younger sister off, "My favorite show is 9.8 Falls!" Before pulling another flier out from his skirt's pocket, showing a boy in a sweater, and girl wearing a pine tree hat, their great aunt, a female handyman, and another male worker standing around a campfire, "It's a show filled with Mystery!"

Lisa simply adjusts her glasses her glasses, "I still don't see its allure."

"Whatever." Lincoln responds, "It's just too high-brow for ya." Then he turns to Lori, "So can we go to Dairyland today?!"

"Can we please?" Lana speaks up, followed by Luna and Luan agreeing,

Lynn twirls a ball around for a moment, before answering, "Sure, I'm down for it if you girls are."

Lisa sighs, "And I too would like to go to Dairyland, sisters."

"Then it's decided." Lori declares, as she clutches her bag closer, "After we go get our monthly shipment of chocolate, we'll go to Dairyland."

Lincoln, Lynn, Luna, Luan, Lisa and Lana cheer in excitement, while Leni, Lily, Lucy and Lola give a collective sigh in defeat.

""I call dibs on the sweet spot!" Lincoln shouts, before rushing out the front door.

With that, Lori grabs onto her bag tightly, before she givijng a concerned sigh, _"What's going on with you Lincoln? You never wanted to be like this before…"_

"You ok Lori?" Luna places a soft hand on her shoulder, "You seem a bit tense and stuff. Lincoln's 'condition' getting you down or something?"

"I'm fine…" Lori's voice trails off, "Come on, let's not keep him… her, waiting."

Lana and Lola don't hesitate to run out the door after that, followed by Leni carrying Lily in her arms and Lynn and Lucy come after her, and Lori rounds them out.

"Hey Lisa." Luan says, "How's the Dimensional Watch thingy going?"

Lisa adjusts her glasses in response, "It's an Inter-Dimensional Matter Transporting Device that will allow me to…" the four-year-old's voice trails off uncertainly.

"Lisa?"

She sighs and lets her arms go limp defeat, "I'm not sure really. At first I thought I could use it to simply cancel out the original, in hopes that the anomalies will go away with it…"

"But?"

"But, I'm not sure what will happen when I use this." She fumbles with a small, watch-like device as well as a small Swiss Army Knife, before sighing and continuing, "I've never seen this amount of anomalies appear before…"

Luan cuts in, "So what? What are these anomalies anyway?"

"They're… things that don't belong, but fit in so well that it's hard to see that it's out of place."

Luna then continues, "I see Lisa, well then, you should be able to finish that device at the mall and hopefully fix everything." Then she leans in and whispers, "I'm starting to get worried that Lincoln is going to go too far… unless this whole thing with his behavior and the anomalies popping up was just a coincidence or something…"

"And I'm running out of transgender puns." Luan rubs the back of her head in embarrassment.

"I'm doing my best sisters, but I'm going to need more time to get this technology right." Her voice gains an annoyed exhaustion to it, "If I rush, I risk tearing the very fabric of out universe to shreds!"

"Well, there's not much we can do right now." Luan then turns and walks over to the door, "Come on, let's go." And she opens it, revealing a red-haired boy wearing a blue shirt with a white collar and blue pants.

"Uhh, hi there?" Luan goes.

Cristopher stands by for a moment, unsure of how to respond... that is, until he points and screams, "Oh no! You're that crazy girl!" Then he turns and runs off while shouting, "Please don't shove a baseball bat down my throat!"

Luan blinks twice, "Uhh, what just happened?"

Lisa adjusts her glasses, "Interesting, I believe an anomaly was behind that random event. I should-" she then turns, as if preparing to run back upstairs, only for Luna to grab her by the shirt.

"Sis, you can look up these dimensional anomaly things later, right now, we have to take care of Lincoln... Liberty... whatever he... she… they want to be called."

"Curses." Lisa sighs, "All right."

"Girls!" Lori runs over to the front door, her voice filled with a concerned anger, "We're waiting for you! Come on, or else you get no chocolate!"

The three girls shudder in fear at that thought, before they nod and run over to vanzilla. Lori starts it up, and within minutes, the screeching metal death trap pulls out of the driveway and heads off to the mall.

Linka sighs in defeat, _"I don't know what to do now… my sisters think I'm transgender, and actually seem to like me like, well, that."_ She then she sits down on her home's couch, _"To think… I'm in a reality that's just like my own, yet it's so much different."_ Soft tears begin to form on her eyes.

"Hey GLaDOS, send me home please."

" _ **Input accepted, returning to dimension of origin."**_

And with that, the world around Linka dissipates and reforms around her, changing the from the living room back in her home of Dimension C-137 to the room she calls her own in Dimension 63i'\\.

" _It was bad enough when he started running around in a dress. Around Christmas she decided that she would tell my parents that I was transgender. And now, my sisters are becoming concerned!"_ Linka thinks, before giving a sigh, trying to hold back the painful feelings she harbors as she places on her desk once more. _"Christmas..."_

*Sniffle*

Immediately, Luke bursts through the room door carrying an acoustic guitar, "Linka, are you all right?! I heard you sniffle! What's wrong, how can I help and-"

Linka simply turns to her brother "It's fine." Linka wipes the tears under her eyes; "I'm just feeling down cause Claudia's busy today and stuff." Then the realization hits her, "Wait, how'd you hear me sniffle."

Luke's determined brother expression softens to a caring one, "Ahh, so it's just girl stuff huh? As for your second question, I didn't hear it, I felt it."

Linka nods, before turning back to the goggles, "Yeah… just girl stuff." Then just before her brother can walk out, she says, "Hey Luke, I can tell you anything right?"

"Yeah sis, I'm your big bro! If you need me to keep a secret or something, feel free to tell me, I promise I won't say anything!" Luke's heart begins to race, his mind zooming passed the possibilities, _"Is Linka going to finally tell me the truth?! That she rather be a boy?!"_ Then, as if trying to calm his sister down, he begins to strum away.

"Well…" She starts, "I really want to tell you something… but I'm not sure how to- Wait, you can play acoustic?"

Luke smiles, "When I was first starting out, dad made me play classical. When I started getting jobs and getting paid, I bought my hard metal stuff." Then, he looks around and whispers, "I like classical music, but it's too… up tight for me."

"Heh…" Linka goes.

"So, if you want to tell me anything, feel free."

"Well, I've been meaning to-"

" _ **Luke you've got a call, Luke you've got a call!"**_ Luke's voice shouts from his pocket.

Immediately, the boy goes in and pulls out a small, silver device that was the phone his parents had given him. After a quick inspection of the name, Luke sighs, "Sorry Linka, can you hold it for a bit, this is important."

Linka puts on a pained smile and nods, "Sure bro, go ahead and answer it!"

"Thanks sis." He responds, before standing up and stepping out of his sister's room.

" _Phew."_ Linka thinks, _"Why did I feel… relieved that I was just about to tell someone the truth?"_ Then, she goes into the drawer and pulls out her dimensional watch, the strange device and the card that bared the first hunter's image. _"Maybe… maybe I should tell him."_

Then, with another sigh, she straps the watch on, while making sure to hide the other items in her drawer. _"No, you can't tell them yet. What if they panic? The destruction of the world is a serious problem and this weird guardian guy leading me is sure to raise some flags."_

"Dangit!" She says aloud, "What am I going to do?!" Then, she looks at her nearby calendar, William warned that something was going to come around this time, but what?" She then steels her nerves, "I'll tell him. I need help to save the world."

With that, Luke walks into the room again, "Hey Linka, that was my roadie, she told me that we're cleared for the concert tonight."

"What concert?"

Luke chuckles, "Don't tell me you forgot! It's the New Year's Concert at Gos's Games, Grub and Dance Club!" Then, he kneels down to her, "You were feeling really down so I invited you to it, you know, since dad would never agree to let you go there on your own. Plus, I promised to spend time with you after you hanged out with Lynn, remember?"

 _ **A Few Days Earlier…**_

"Hey dad, may I take Linka to one of my concerts?" Luke asks, standing in front of his father.

Lynn Sr. thinks for a moment, before flipping his newspaper to the next page, "Where, when and why?"

"The concert is at Gos's Dance Club, New Year's Eve, and because Linka has been acting really down lately and I'm worried about her."

The man puts down his newspaper and stares Luke dead in the eyes, "I'll allow it. Under the condition that you make sure that she is not only safe, but feels better. Got that Luke?"

"Yes sir." Luke softly responds.

"And remember, watch out for your sister." Then he grabs his newspaper and gets back to reading, while Luke mentally cheers for his success.

 _ **Back in the present…**_

"After that, I came to you and you said 'sure'." Luke finishes, "Do you still wanna go? It could be good for you to blow a load off and stuff with those video games."

" _My body is urging me to say no… but I haven't played video games that much since I got here!"_ Before she waves her brother off with, "Sure Luke, I'd love to go! Sounds like it'd be a ton of fun!"

Luke smiles, "Awesome sis, and hey, you can tell me what you wanted to tell me later." Then he stands up, "I have to go get ready and get the rest of the band ready and junk. You'll be all right sis?"

"Yeah bro thanks." Then she smiles, "So when do we head out and stuff?"

"We'll go in about… three hours? That should give you enough time to prepare and me to do my things. Though, given what you do to prepare, I think we might be cutting it close." Then young boy kneels down to her, "Linka… you know if there's anything bugging you that you can tell us, right?"

Linka simply nods and wipes her tears once more, "Don't worry bro, I'll be fine."

"Ok then sis, ok then." And with that, he stands up and walks out of the room.

"So how's she doing?" Leni asks.

"Why was she crying?!" Lexx shouts.

Lynn cracks his knuckles, "If a boy broke her heart, you know what we're going to do to them!"

"Calm down guys." Luke motions for his brothers to hold off for a moment, while he answers, "She's fine. Her friend is just busy today and she was sad about it."

"Heh, girls and their emotions, am I right?" The boys' annoyed silence is the only answer they give him. "Heh, tough crowd."

Then, Luke speaks up again, "I'm going to take her to that gig like I promised, so she should feel better later… so long as nothing goes wrong."

Loki nods, "Got it, I'm leaving you in charge of her today Luke, make sure she's all right and that you're home by 11:30, tonight's new years and like usual, we're going to the park."

"Will do bro. Will do."

Then Loki turns to the rest of the brothers, "As for the rest of you, you guys have to prepare the home for new years."

The brothers nod in agreement, before running off to their assigned jobs, while Luke simply walks into his room, preparing for his concert.

* * *

Back in Linka's room, the young girl sits back in her chair, trying to let everything sink in. Yet, after a few moments, she simply sighs, goes into her drawer and pulls out a familiar notebook, "Ok then. Let's go at this again."

Then she opens the book and begins writing, "December thirty-first. It's been over two months since I first ended up here and man do I miss my sisters. It was hard waking up Christmas Morning without their usual, well, loudness to give me a sense of comfort. But hey, at least things can't get worse? Right?!"

"I hope William was wrong… I don't want to have to deal with another Trevor guy. Having to deal with a card game on motorcycles was hard, but then he tried to seal us in cards…"

She sighs once more, "If I do end up fighting someone, I hope that this time I'll finally get the answers I need… And maybe I'll finally figure out where to find the flippin' Macguffin parts!" Linka smiles, "The sooner I get home, the sooner I can stop the real Linka from screwin' me over! Seriously! I've been feeling down because Linka has:"

1) Convinced my siblings I'm transgender (This caused mom to cry and dad had to comfort her)

2) Started growing my hair out and putting me in dresses (Though, I have to admit, I do look good in a dress)

3) Broke up with Ronnie Anne (You wouldn't believe how angry Lori was... At least Ronnie took it "well". She only Punched her nine times!)

4) For some reason, started dating Clyde! (I don't even know how she convinced him to go out with her)

5) She deleted my "Not Porn" folder (Note, she's probably going to regret that… if she starts feeling the same things I am.)

"I really miss my sisters..." Her mind starts to wander, "Though, I have to admit, I like feeling pretty and my brothers give me all the chocolate I want when I'm feeling down and they-."

" _Get a hold of yourself Lincoln!"_

She then clutches her pen, before continuing, "I think that spending too much time in this body is starting to affect my mind. I'm starting to get severe cravings for chocolate, becoming more susceptible to emotion and feeling a push against the things I used to enjoy…"

Then she sighs, "Oh yeah, that reminds me. Luke's seemed to be the one who most wants to spend time with me, but I can't seem to relate for some reason."

" _At this point, I don't know how to feel. Should I be happy that my sisters are so accepting of Linka, or annoyed that they think the she's me?! And William's not helping at all! I'm stuck in another world and I don't even know what to do next!"_

Then, throws herself back against her chair in defeat. With a sigh, she pulls out a certain card as well as a small shield-like device, "Well, if anything happens tonight, I have to be sure to have these on me. Who knows, maybe I'll finally find out what this darn thing does besides seal people in metal cards for all eternity… and set up a card games on motorcycles thing."

And with that, Linka quickly packs her bag and begins to get ready for the New Year's Eve gig that Luke is going to take her to.

 _ **Later…**_

"Ok Poppy, we're here!" Luke declares with excitement filling his voice, "Just drop us off right there." He then points at an open parking space in front of the venue and a few moments after that his female roadie pulls the Vanzilla in.

"You know what to do." Luke assures, before he turns to his little sister, "Come on Linka, I'll check us in while Poppy brings the gear in."

Linka nods, "Ok Luke…" And with that, she turns, and gets out of the van.

" _Wow!"_ The young girl thinks as she takes in the sight. The arcade and dance club combo, is large, taking up about two storefronts worth of space, while the small parking lot in front makes the space eve larger.

"Heh, first time here huh?" Luke jokes, before taking Linka's hand in his own, "Come on, you haven't seen anything yet sis!"

Linka just continues looking around, awestruck by the mere sight of everything.

The automatic front doors part ways for the siblings, bringing the rest of the venue into view.

On the right of the entrance is a small reception desk with a single worker manning it. On the left side is a small arcade; while on the right is a small stage. Between the two of them are the numerous tables reserved for the patrons.

"Wow." Linka quips, "This is amazing!"

Luke simply smiles, _"Bout time she stopped feeling down."_ Before he asks,"So where do you wanna start Sis?"

"Uhh." Linka goes, before pointing at a random console decorated with random, pixel men, "How about… Little Warrior Fight X? I heard Fighter McBeatstick is a great character in that!"

"Hmm," Luke goes, "You sure you're up to it sis?"

"I am so up to it!" Linka goes in excitement, "Will you play it with me?"

Luke runs his hand through his sister's long, white curls, "Yeah sis, of course! Let me just go grab our gaming card, how about you go ahead and meet me there?" Then, the boy lets go of his sister.

" _Why do I have the sudden urge to grab it again?"_ Linka thinks, before nodding with a beaming smile on her face, "Sure bro!" And with that, the young girl runs ahead and grabs a stool, puts it down in front of the machine and begins practicing.

Meanwhile, Luke walks up to the reception counter with, "Hi, I'm Luke Loud, I'm scheduled to perform tonight?"

The young woman behind the counter taps away at her computer, before printing out a small plastic card. She looks at him with reserved eyes as she speaks, "Yes, Mr. Loud, you are set to perform at ten o'clock. That is in two hours." Then she takes the newly printed card and hands it to the young man, "This is your game card, we expect you to be ready to play ten minutes before you are set to perform."

"Thank you." Luke takes the card and walks away. He sighs trying to clear up his confused thoughts, _"I guess Linka really does wanna be our brother… she usually wouldn't say yes to a game like that. Maybe that's what she was trying to tell me earlier."_

And then a young girl runs right into him, causing him to fall back with the girl on top of him. "Oh, uhh, sorry." The two blush, before the girl Jumps to her feet and runs off.

" _Huh, that was strange."_ He thinks, before approaching the console. _"_ Ok Linka, I've got the card."

Linka turns to him and smiles, "Awesome bro, let's play then!"

"You got it sis!"

And with that, Luke slides the card in and uses it to pay. Immediately, the console jolts to life with the character selection screen.

"Ok, I choose the Fighter McBeatstick!" Linka declares as she moves her cruiser to a small, muscular man with torn blue jeans, no shirt, a red bandanna and blonde hair.

"And I choose the Raiden Metal!" Luke responds, choosing a cybernetic being with an eye patch and blonde hair as well.

Immediately, the game console loads up the 3D rendered field as well as the chosen warriors. Then, the announcer shouts. _**"Fight!"**_ Immediately, Luke's character gets an early lead over Linka's, by easily launching a barrage of random lasers and bullets. Yet, Linka counters by forcing Raiden away sending her own barrage back.

"I'm not done yet bro!" Linka declares, before she begins spamming buttons. Luke responds, "Oh yeah?! Well here's my return!"

Eventually though, Linka ends their game by using McBeatstick's special attack- the Super Power Ninja Turbo Neo Ultra Hyper Mega Multi Alpha Meta Extra Uber Prefix- combo!"

All Luke can do is hit random buttons as Linka's fighter sends a flurry of punches at Raiden, causing the robot to explode into a pile of damaged parts.

"Huh, wow Linka, I didn't know you were so good at video games. It's like you played this a lot before! McBeatstick is super hard to master!"

Linka awkwardly shrugs, "What can I say bro, I guess I'm just a natural at this!" she then puts on a sheepish smile, before thinking, _"Please don't catch on, please don't catch on, please don't catch on!"_

"Heh, well then Link, how about we try out a game more suited to me?"

"And what game would that be bro?"

Immediately, Luke walks over to a game console with three guitar-shaped controllers attached to it, "My favorite game here sis, Guitar Warrior Legends!" Then, he hands one of the controls to his sister, here, take one and let's play."

"You're on bro!" Linka excitedly smiles before taking the controller in her hands and setting herself up to play.

" _Man, I've never seen Linka smile this much before. I guess bringing her here was just the thing she needed to feel better about herself… whether or not she would rather be a boy though… I hope I find out soon."_

Then, the machine revs up and colored notes begin to rush down the side-by-side moving platforms. Immediately Linka and Luke get to work playing, knowing that whoever wins will be the new guitar warrior!

The two play the game's songs with relative ease, pushing the counter as far as it can go as they work their way to the goal.

After a few moments of playing, the verdict is set and Luke replaces his controller in defeat, "Heh, you win sis, good job." While he thinks, _"Wow, I didn't know my sis could play that well. No one ever beats me at that game!"_

Linka puts on a sheepish smile once more as she responds, "Thanks bro, I guess I'm the Guitar warrior now!"

Luke smiles, before rubbing his sister's head, "Don't worry sis, I'm going to fight to get my title back, just you wait!"

Then, he pulls out his card once more, "Wanna go again?!"

Linka nods, "Yeah bro! Let's go!"

 _ **Two Hours Later…**_

"Finally, after Fifty-two attempts!" Luke throws his arms up in joy, "I win!"

"Haha bro!" Linka responds, "You only won cause I let you!"

"Oh yeah?!" He responds, "How about another round then sis?! Winner take all!"

"I would bro. But look at the time." Linka then points at a nearby clock, "You've got to perform in a few don't ya?"

"Heh, you're right!" Luke places the control back in its holder, "It's about time for me to start my performance, how about you take a seat sis? Good game though."

"Yeah… sure." Linka responds, her voice filling with disappointment." While she thinks, " _My body says that I should stop, but I can't help but try to have some fun with my brothers... plus, when did my sisters ever want to play video games with me?!"_

Luke rubs the top of Linka's head affectionately, "Don't worry sis, we'll play again later, after I perform. So why don't you, you know, take a seat and watch your big bro make some cash before new year's?"

For a moment, Linka hesitates, before nodding, "sure bro!" And running over to one of the small rounded tables, filled with gamers of all walks of life and sizes, gathered to watch Luke play the new year off."

Linka takes a seat closer to the stage, allowing her to get a better view of her brother. There's a sweaty man on her right, but some breathing room to her left. Thankfully, she took a seat before many others, or she might've been crammed between two! She shudders at the thought.

After a few minutes, the game corner's lights begin to dim, and Gos walks up to the stage in an elegant black dress. The middle-aged woman doesn't seem to be a day over thirty, with medium-length black hair and light, though slightly wrinkled skin.

She takes the microphone in hand and declares with a soft, motherly tone, "Hello one and all, to the Royal Woods Gamer New Year's Party!"

Immediately, the crowd bursts into cheers while Linka does her best not to let the... oversized man come too close to her.

"For the night, we have Royal Woods's own, Luke Loud performing his Internet hit, Welcome to a Loud new year!"

Then, she moves aside as Luke takes the mic, "Hey everyone!" He declares, before the curtain behind him parts ways, "I'm Luke and we're the loud house! Is everyone ready?!"

Somehow, Luke manages to excite the crowd with that simple phrase.

Then again, he is Luke Loud, even Linka feels excited by her brother revin' up.

"A one and a two and!" He shouts, before giving the guitar a soft strum, creating a familiar beat. _**"It's been one long year and it's been a heck of a time. It's been 365 days of changes on a dime!"**_ Then, the drums, the base and the back up guitar begin to play, giving a small energy as the members shout, "in the loud house, in the loud house!"

Then, his beat fills with life, " _ **Yet it's nothing for us to gripe about. We've still got some time left to make a change! As long as I'm here with you, nothing can go wrong!"**_

"In the loud house, in the loud house!"

 _ **"We fight we run we punch and dodge! But that's just what us bros do, to show our love!**_

"In the loud house, in the loud house!"

Then, with a brotherly determination behind it, Luke shouts, _**"And though the new year is so uncertain, we'll keep on growing together! Because it our year to shine! With 365 days to go, we will show the world who we are!"**_

Then, the beat stops for a moment so Luke can add, "And remember, no one messes with our sister."

And the band ends the song with, "In the loud house! In the loud, loud, loud house!"

Immediately the crowd bursts into applause, with random clapping and sounds blaring in cheer.

Only for everything to just stop and a gloomy atmosphere to overtake the venue.

" _What the?"_ Linka thinks, _"What's going on? Why can't I move?!"_

"That was nice, I have to admit." A voice calls out, before a hooded figure takes to the stage. "It almost makes me wish I didn't have to seal you away."

" _Oh no…"_ Linka thinks, as she watches the figure approach her time-paused brother.

Suddenly, Trevor's former device springs to life with, **_"Time field detected. Scanning for user_ DNA..."** The device then scans the metal card resting inside Linka's bag, before responding, **_"User DNA detected! Activating protection bubble."_** And with that, the small, shield-like device projects a translucent bubble around the young girl, allowing her to move around once more.

"This was too easy." The hunter declares, before securing a similar device to their wrist, "Preparing to seal anomaly." And with that, she aims and taps her device.

"No!" Linka shouts, as she jumps out of her chair and run in front of her time-frozen brother, her bubble engulfing Luke, as well as causing the light to disperse around her. "I challenge you!"

"Stupid anomaly hunter code." The hunter mutters, before removing their hood, revealing a familiar face.

"Luna?!" Linka steps back in shock.

Luke then looks around in shock, "Uhh, Linka, what's going on?!" then he points at the opposing girl, "And aren't you the girl from before?"

"No and yes. I am Nyla Uold of dimension AX-144. Corporal in the Anomaly Elimination Unit. May I know who my opponents are?"

Luke grits his teeth, "Linka, what the heck going on?!"

"I am Linka Loud of dimension 63i'\ and this is my brother Luke!" Linka responds, before turning to Luke, "I'll explain everything later, but please Luke, I need you to trust me when I say, we have to beat her!"

Then, Luke looks at the girl in front of them, her blue uniform with golden highlights glows in the light grey of the paused time space. _"She… looks pretty hot actually."_

"So what's your challenge?" She demands, her voice filling with annoyance.

" _Quick, think fast!"_ Linka thinks, as she pulls out Trevor's device and attaches it to her own wrist, "How about a rock off? Whoever can get the crowd to cheer louder wins!" While she thinks, _"I don't know why, but it looks like this'll work for me! Fingers crossed!"_

"Linka…" Luke stands up, "You've got a ton of explaining to do later, for one, what the heck is going on?!"

"I'm doing my job as an anomaly hunter, sealing you away in containment cards!" She then begins taping the screen on her device, causing a feminine voice to declare, _**"Generating Hunting Field, Music Rush."**_

And with that, counters appear about the sibling's heads.

"Anomalies?!" Luke shouts, "Seal away?!"

Nyla simply responds, "Look, I don't want to verse you in a music contest and would rather just seal you away and stuff, but because you can fight, and because our containment cards are so shitty, I can't do that till I defeat you. It's like trying to capture a Pokémon."

Luke then grits his teeth, before raising his guitar, "Linka, you have so much explaining to do later, it's not funny!"

"I know Luke!" Linka responds, raising her device. And with that, both devices jolt to life, creating small, hard-light guitars

 _ **"First to one million points wins"**_

"Lets rock!" the trio shouts, and immediately the crowd unfreezes.

"There's a change of plans tonight folks!" Nyla declares, "You're not just having a single performance, you're having a rock off!" Then, she points at the glowing counters, "Above us are our point counters! The louder you cheer, the faster they increase, the first to hit one million points wins!"

"Now who's ready to rock?!" She shouts, causing the crowd to go wild, giving her an early lead of 4000.

Linka and Luke gulp in fear, before steeling their nerves, turning to each other and nodding.

With the band playing the background Nyla gives a hard rock strum, causing a light-pink-purple aura to form around her.

" _ **Thing's are gonna get weird! I ain't from round' here! I'm the hunter that won't give up!"**_

Then, with another strum, she sends a hard-light note flying across the stage at the siblings, forcing them to jump to the side.

"Luke!" Linka shouts, yet instead of responding, Luke simply raises his guitar, "You know what to do sis."

" _ **You know by now we're not the ones, but we're the ones who've taken the chance! We're no anomalies, we're just some kids from Royal Woods and we'll fight!"**_

An orange aura forms around Linka while a purple one forms around Luke. Then, with another strum of her orange, hard-light guitar, Linka sends another note flying at Nyla, yet she easily dodges it and counters.

" _ **It starts with one thing! And I don't know why, but you're nothing more than mistakes the universe has made, and I've been sent to clean you up! There may be no place for me to go!"**_

The crowd goes wild, raising the counters up to 150,000 Nyla, and 125,000 for Linka and Luke.

Yet, not to be outdone, Luke counters with.

" _ **I may not know what's going on, but I can just stay along, No matter what may happen, I'll stand up here sing for my sis! We're the Louds and it's our time to rock!"**_

And with that, Luke launches his own hard-light projectile at the hunter. Yet, she easily dodges it.

" _ **But I'm still here, and my mission is clear, to seal anomalies away for all eternity!"**_ Then she strums faster, _**"I had a brother and nine sisters, and they all disappeared one day! And to get them back I'll fight for what is right!"**_

Then, another musical-note shaped projectile fires, luckily, it dissipates when it hits the wall.

Linka's turn again, and she glows more.

" _ **There's so much I still don't understand, there's still so much I can't explain! But I will fight to see the people I love! And I'll go on and fight for eternity!"**_

The counters rise once more as the audience cheers, the unexpected laser light rock off fills the venue with an excitement Gos could only dream of. In fact, the middle-aged woman stands to the side, simply smiling at the sight.

" _ **Though I thrive on what I do, I know that I've got stuff to lose! My name Nyla Uold and I'm here to sing!"**_ She strums harder, launching more notes at the siblings, yet they manage to dodge the onslaught. _**"The entity's gaze is our ray of hope, though our homes may be lost it is our duty to save the rest!"**_

Luke then glows once more, _**"Though I may not know where you came from, and I don't know what'll you do next! Just know that I'll fight no matter how bad things may get! In the Loud House, we're ready to rock!"**_

He then rushes Nyla and sends hard-light notes right at her, yet she effortlessly dodges the assault.

Then, with rage filling in her eyes, her heart racing and determination filling her veins she shouts, _**"The times you live in have changed, life is no longer the same, with our brothers and sisters here as one, us soldiers of the night! We will stand against the corruption of the multiverse!"**_

Then, with a massive barrage, Nyla sends Linka and Luke back.

Their counters meet with all three of them tied at 900,000 points. The audience goes silent in shock, as if unsure of whether or not to cheer or rush in to help. For a moment, both Linka and Luke seem down and out, and Nyla raises her device, "Preparing to-"

" _ **No…"**_ Linka declares, before standing up.

" _ **Linka, just face facts, there's no way that we can win! She's from another dimension!"**_

Linka simply dusts herself off and begins to strum once more, _ **"Though she may be from another dimension, that doesn't mean we can't still blow doors down!"**_

An uncertain energy begins to fill the room, as if the crowd is at the edge of their seats, waiting to see what is to come next.

" _ **You mean it sis? You say it's time to blow doors down?!"**_ Luke responds, he too readying his guitar for the fight.

" _ **Come on Luke, it's time for a showdown, we've gotta light up the stage!"**_ Linka shouts, the glowing auras that surrounded the duo return as they sing.

" _ **Now we've got to blow this hunter away! We're the Louds and it's our time to rock! We're the Louds and we duck, dodge, push and shove! It's how we show our love! And we'll never give up! We're the Loud's and it's our time to rock!"**_

And with that, the duo sends a barrage of random hard-light notes at Nyla, who jumps around desperatelyin an attempt to dodge the assault. Yet, she ends up getting hit anyway.

Immediately, the crowd bursts into a flurry of random cheers, causing Linka and Luke's counter to overtake 1,000,000.

"We win!" Luke shouts.

Nyla stands up in defeat, before turning her device on herself. "Unit defeated, self-"

"No!" Linka shouts as she runs over and grabs her arm, "Don't turn yourself into a card too! I have so many questions!"

"Sorry kid it's-"

"You were good. After answering some questions, you should join my band."

Nyla then looks up at the boy she had just fought and blushes, before she puts her arm down and simply nods. "Uhh… Sure, I was getting bored of anomaly hunting anyway... maybe later. I still have a job to do. Uhh… see you later." Her voice is filled with nervousness as she turns and leaves just as abruptly as she arrived.

"Huh…"

"Well that was weird… but fun."

The crowd cheers one final time as Linka and Luke take a bow and head off stage.

"That was cool." Then, Luke turns to Linka with, "So sis, care to explain… everything?"

Linka puts on a sheepish smile, before sighing, "Fine, I'll explain everything back home… But promise you won't tell anyone."

Luke kneels down to her, "No problem sis, I won't tell anyone. Just please, tell me everything,"

"Now come on, we have to get home! It's New Year's!"

And with that, they run out of the venue.

 _ **Later…**_

"5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Happy New Year!" The Louds shout in unison, as they watch the night sky over the Royal Woods Park.

And… nothing.

"Well… that was anti-climactic." Lane quips, "There were no-"

*Boom*

Immediately a burst of light flashes in the sky, followed by the sound of scattering rocket parts.

"Ahh!" Lane screams, before jumping into the nearby Luke's arms, causing the family to laugh.

" _Well… at least a near year's here. I hope I get home soon."_ Then, Linka smiles, before looking at her family, "But for now, at least, I think I'll be fine."

Luke then takes a seat next to her on the grass, "So, have fun at the new year's party?"

"Best, rock-off, ever!"

9 23-1-14-14-1 18-15-3-11 1-14-4 18-15-12-12 1-12-12 14-9-7-8-20 1-14-4 16-1-18-20-25 5-22-5-18-25-4-1-25! 8-1-16-16-25 14-5-23 25-5-1-18!

 **A/N So tell me what you guys think! This was my first fic for the year! As always, review and send in any ideas you'd like to see! And tell me how I can improve! By the way, please answer my poll, when would you guys prefer I update, Sundays or Saturdays?**

 **See ya guys next week! Happy New Year!**


	12. Reality Gazers 2: Electric Boogaloo

**A/N Hey guys! I'm back and on Winter Break! I hope you had some happy holidays! I hope you guys will enjoy!**

 **As always, R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Some more fun interdimensional sightseeing. "**_ _ **I would love to see the world where there are identical Hendecauplets of the loud siblings." (Requested by ZanderJ2121 and some dialogue prompts by Wolvenstrom).**_

Story Twelve: Reality Gazers 2- Electric Boogaloo

" _You know, in retrospect, maybe telling Luke everything wasn't the best idea I've had."_ Linka puts on a sheepish smile as she finishes, "So, what do you think Luke?"

Luke simply sits on Linka's bed; his eyes wide, his back straight and his arms limp against his sides. He has a confused expression on his face as he tries to process everything Linka had just told him.

After a few minutes of silence, he stands up and goes, "Well sis! Lars' storytelling has really rubbed off on ya! If you write and publish that you'll probably get over one hundred reviews or something!"

Then he begins to laugh, "I mean, come on! You actually expect me to believe that you're really a boy named Lincoln, who accidently got sent here by some anomaly? And now some god-like reality warper is asking you get some device to fix everything?" He then playfully rubs his sister's head, "Come on Linka, that story's too crazy, even for our standards!"

Linka sighs, "I know it sounds crazy, but I'm not really your sister. I'm just a version of her from another dimension."

"Oh come on Linka!" Luke counters, his voice filling with frustration, "You actually expect me to believe that you're really some boy named Lincoln, and you come from a reality where you're the only boy out of ten girls?!"

"Yes…" Linka looks away and rubs her arm in embarrassment.

Luke crosses his arms in response, "Come on Linka, you know that's not true." Then he loosens up and punches her arm playfully, "You're my sister, and nothing will change that." Then he turns and walks over to the front door, "Though, if you ever need help, feel free to ask, I'm your bro, I'll see what I can do."

" _Linka, this is your last chance, let him go and I doubt he'll bring it up, ever."_ Linka then gives a defeated sigh, "I can prove it."

Luke stops himself, "What?"

With desperate tears filling her eyes, Linka continues, "I can prove that I'm not your sister."

The young man hesitates for a moment, _"Should I? Nah… she's my sister, right? She just wants to be our brother instead. After all, she's wanted to spend time with both Lynn and I, played that crazy Duel Monsters game without much thought, took a paper route job despite not being one for outside work and stuff… She couldn't not be our sister, right?"_

"Ok then, prove it Linka." Luke responds, before turning back to the eleven-year-old girl. _"What the heck am I doing?!"_

Immediately, Linka looks around the cramped room with a frantic determination, _"What can I use to prove it? Matter Key?"_ Her eyes fall upon the golden watch. _"No."_

Then upon the metal card and the accompanying device, _"No."_

" _Spare Ace Savvy Comic? Nah."_

Finally, the young girl's eyes fall upon the set of metal goggles she had been using to view alternate realities, _"I've got one shot."_ Then, she takes the device in her hands, "These are Dimensional Goggles. They allow the user to look into alternate worlds."

Luke hesitates as he takes the device in his hands, "Ok Linka, I'll bite. How do I use these things?"

"I need you to put them on. The AI will scan your retinas, register you as a user, and allow you to view other dimensions."

"And which dimension do you want me to see?"

"C-137."

With a deep breath, the young man then puts the device on, "Ok, turn on I guess?"

Immediately, the goggles spring to life, the mini scanners analyzing his retinas for a quick moment, before a familiar feminine voice declares, _**"User, Luke Loud, dimension 63i Apostrophe Backslash, detected!"**_

"Who made these things, and why does the AI sound like she's from a video game?"

Linka rubs the back of her head and responds; "Levi made them after the lemonade stand incident. Since he couldn't find decent voice assets to use, he just copied the files from an old 'Portal' game."

"Ok then…" Luke nervously responds, "So how do I use these things to view alternate dimensions?"

" _ **Input accepted!"**_ The goggles respond, before flashing a hard-light panel in front of him. The keypad is a translucent blue with white letters, _**"Please enter Dimensional Designation!"**_

"Ok…" Luke goes, before he types in the designation, C-137.

" _ **Input accepted, track user dimensional signature?"**_ GLaDOS continues in her normal monotone voice, before flashing, _**"[Y/N]"**_

"Uhh…" Luke stutters, "Sure…"

" _ **Input accepted. Locating dimensional counterpart… counterpart located!"**_ and with that, the image of a young woman, about Luke's age flashes on screen. She wears a purple shirt with a white skull design, a purple skirt and purple boots. Under her photo is the name, "Luna Loud."

" _What the… who the heck is Luna Loud… and why does she look like that girl from the other day?"_

" _ **Transporting now…"**_ GLaDOS finally declares. Immediately, the world around the young boy begins to glow, forcing him to close his eyes.

After a few minutes, his body begins to loosen up, as if he were not in a body, but rather a spirit.

" _ **Welcome to Dimension C-137. Dimensional Signature of Dimensional Counterpart detected nearby! When prepared to return to dimension of origin, please shout, 'Return to home dimension!'"**_

"Ok then…" Luke nervously quips, before opening his eyes and taking in the surroundings.

Instead of the familiar linen closet his sister called home, he is standing in the familiar hallways, _"What the… how'd I end up here?"_ He then begins to look around.

The hallways are the same random grey that he remembers them as, with the accompanying green lockers crowded by the various students preparing to go to their next classes, _"Well… so far so I good I guess. Nothing-"_

He starts to think, only to notice a girl with short brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a red shirt and red shorts pass by. "Wait… what?!" He then turns around, "Lynn?! Is that you?!"

The girl continues running with no response.

" _ **Note, user is only able to look and phase through. You are unable to interact with the world around you."**_

"Well that would've been handy to know. At least no one can hear me, right?"

" _ **Correct."**_

Luke thinks for another moment, "Ok then, can you tell me where Linka Loud's dimensional counterpart is? I need to make sure that she's not just playing me like a piano or something like that."

" _ **Locating dimensional counterpart..."**_ A few tense moments pass, with Luke tapping his foot in impatience.

" _ **Dimensional counterpart located! Please, turn approximately ninety degrees to your right, and walk twenty feet until you reach the next corridor."**_

"Ok then… GLaDOS was it?" And with that, the young boy complies and stands in the center of a four-way corridor for a moment.

Then, the AI continues, _**"Turn ninety degrees to your left, and stare. According to calculations, dimensional counterpart for- Linka Loud- will arrive in approximately thirty seconds."**_

Luke chuckles, _"Well, it's Levi's craftsmanship all right. Only he'd think of giving it a direction base this specific._

And so, the young man complies and waits for a moment, only for a young boy dressed in an orange dress, with slightly long white hair to turn and skip down the hallway, a familiar African-American boy by his side.

"So Clyde, how are ya?" he goes, his voice filled with a feminine cheer, "You've seemed really nervous ever since I met ya. Mind telling me what's wrong Fluffal Bear?"

Clyde blushes, "Nothing sugarplum, I'm just… this is the first time people have seen us in public together and I'm worried that people are going to, you know, do something bad to us and stuff.

Lincoln chuckles in response, "Don't worry Clyde Bear, everything's going to be fine."

"Linka… you sure?"

A wave of shock overtakes Luke as he thinks, _"Wait… That's Linka?! But, how?!"_

Linka then affectionately nuzzles Clyde's face, "Yeah, my sisters are watchin' out for us!"

The duo then continues cheerfully on their way, phasing right through Luke on the way.

It takes the young man shakes his head in response, "No, it's not true. That's not Linka. It just can't be. Linka's my sister back home… it's not like she somehow got swapped with that boy or something, right?!"

Immediately, he gives chase and follows the duo to their class. _"No, it's not. That just has to be some weird knock off of my sister. After all, if there's a dimension where Linka is transgender, that could just mean that, there's a rule sixty-three dimension where her counterpart is transgender as well!"_

Then, he watches Lincoln as he excitedly raises his hand to answer the question, "Who wrote 'Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata'?"

"Haha!" The… rather beautiful teacher chuckles, "My, my Lincoln, you're excited today. Please answer."

Luke chuckles, _"Easy, I remember helping Linka with that a few months back. The answer is-"_

"Erin Von Beethoven!"

The class stands in shock for a moment, before the children break out into laughter. The teacher, however, holds her composure, as she corrects, "Sorry Lincoln, Ludwig Von Beethoven wrote 'Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata'."

" _Wait… could it be?"_ Luke shakes his head, _"Nah…"_

Then he speaks up, "Hey GLaDOS, I think I've seen enough, mind sending me home?"

" _ **Input not accepted."**_

Luke grits his teeth, "Why not?"

" _ **Because, reasons."**_

"GLaDOS!" Luke angrily shouts, "Return to home dimension or I will throw you down an incinerator shaft!"

" _ **There you go! Input accepted!"**_

And with that, the world around the young man begins to melt away, before reforming in the linen closet room.

The young man takes the goggles off wordlessly, before staring at Linka.

"So, what'd you see?" Linka puts on a sheepish smile.

Luke thinks for a moment, _"She's my sister, that kid was just a weird version of her…"_ Then he asks, "Hey Linka, who wrote 'Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata'?"

Linka looks at her brother in confusion for a moment, before tilting her head and responding, "Ludwig Von Beethoven, right?"

" _That…"_ Luke thinks, _"That can't be… I helped her! Linka would never get something like that wrong, ever!"_

Then the young girl tilts her head, "You ok?"

"You're… you're telling the truth…" the shock fills the young man's eyes, "You're not my Linka… you're…" Then, he takes a seat on the bed once more, before throwing the dimensional goggles at the wall, causing them to hit the ground with a soft *thud*.

" _Did I just screw up big time?"_ Linka thinks, as she takes a seat next to her brother.

A few moments of tense silence pass, before Luke decides to break the confused silence with, "How long?"

"How long what?"

Luke stands up at the girl, "How long have you been masquerading as my sister you, you, you body-stealer!" and with that, he grabs and lifts her up, before holding his fist out, as if prepared to punch, "How long?! Answer me!"

Linka frantically looks at the calendar hanging above her dresser, the first box crossed out marking the date. "I've been here since October twenty-third. That means that I've been like this for over two months at this point.

The young man holds his angered stance as he continues, "Is there anything else I should know?! Are you hiding anything you… you…" he drops the girl back on her bed, before muttering, "I don't even know what to call you anymore." And with that, tears begin to fill his eyes.

"Luke…" Linka whispers, her heart racing from the adrenaline filling her veins. "Is something else bothering you?!"

"You mean besides the fact that my sister isn't really my sister?" Luke wipes the tears, "Nothing, it's just… I've never seen Linka smile that much before…" Then, he turns to the current Linka, "We knew you had issues. We thought that you wanted to be our brother and stuff because Linka never seemed to be that happy being a girly girl and yet-"

Linka looks at him in confusion for a second, "Hold on… you thought me not being the perfect girly girl on the planet meant **I** had issues?!" Then she jumps to her feet, "I'm tired, hormonal and have been tasked by a guy who's job acronym is literally GOD to save all of reality! And in the two months that your sister has been in my body she's screwed me over! My family and friends think I'm transgender, she's started dating my best friend and she deleted my 'not porn' folder!"

Yet, the young man simply looks away, a pained expression forming on his face, "Has she at least tried to find her way home? Like you seem to have been doing?"

Linka simply shakes her head, "No, not to my knowledge. She seems to have been having a really good time as me."

" _Were we really that horrible to her?"_ Luke looks away and stands up once more, "I'm… I'm going to my room." Before looking back at his sister with tear-filled eyes and pained smile, "Don't worry, I won't tell. Just… just give me time to think Link… Lincoln." And with that, he walks out of the young girl's room and over to his own.

" _Well that could've gone better."_ Linka thinks, before giving a defeated sigh, "I guess that's why I didn't tell anyone at first, but at least I can trust Luke to not tell anyone. Loki is too serious; Loni is too… out there. The other bros have their own issues, and Lexx and Levi… they'd just tell anyways."

Then she looks at the interdimensional goggles once more, "But Luna… I remember I could always trust her back home. I just hope that I can trust Luke too." Then she picks the device off the floor, "On days like this, I miss my sisters more than usual…"

And with that, she carefully puts the goggles on.

" _ **User detected! Linka Loud, Dimension 63i Apostrophe Backslash! Please enter Dimensional Designation!"**_

"As always, Dimension C-137 GLaDOS."

" _ **Warning, due to blunt force damage, calibration settings have been offset. Calibration Protocol is in effect. Before usage, unit must recalibrate! Is this acceptable?"**_

" _Maybe I should hold off… after all, what Luke saw must've really hurt him…"_ Linka then sighs, "Sure. Search for alternate realities. I need something to get my mind off my brother's problems. Keep going until you come across dimension C-137." Then she takes a deep breath and thinks, _"And please show me something that could get my mind off… everything"_

" _ **Input accepted! Beginning calibration!"**_

And with that, the world around Linka melts away, before reforming as a bright area filled with random portals to other dimensions, the interdimensional void, and "Ok, here we go." Linka whispers and with that, a flash of light bursts across the young girl's face, forcing her to shut her eyes.

When she opens them, she finds herself standing in front of her bedroom once more. By the decorations handing around, it seems that it's still Christmas time. "Huh." She quips, "I wonder what's the quirk about this dimension…"

Then, she climbs down the stairs… only to find her counterpart standing under mistletoe with Lynn.

"Well… this is awkward." Lynn quips, before leaning in.

"It's only awkward if you make it." The Linka counterpart responds, while throwing her arms around Lynn, "Now come'ere you!"

Lynn places his hands on Linka's back and pulls her close as they come together in a loving kiss.

Linka's face goes red in embarrassment as she watches the scene unfolding before her very eyes. "Uhh… what the heck?!"

After a few short moments, the Lynn and Linka off this new dimension break off, and Linka slides her hand into Lynn's pants. "How about we take this to the next step bro?"

Lynn leans in closer, "How about in your room?" Then, he kisses her neck as she responds, "I'd love that."

And with that, the athletic brother scoops the Linka counterpart in his arms, before carrying her upstairs.

A few minutes of silence pass while Linka stands by, trying to process exactly what just happened, before thinking, _"You know what, I'm just going to put that out of my mind. Yep, I'm going to pretend like I didn't just see… that."_

"Hey GLaDOS." She calls with a hopeful tone.

" _ **Yes, user: Linka Loud?"**_

"Do me a favor and filter out all dimensions in which Linka and/or Lincoln Loud is or ends up in a relationship with one of the other Louds."

" _ **Input accepted, filtering 95% of all dimensions involving/containing Lincoln and/or Linka Loud. Calibration time increased."**_

"Awesome." She responds, before declaring, "Anyways, I'm traumatized for life!" Then she chuckles, _"Though, I wonder if Lynn has a crush on me back home."_

" _ **Remember the last time you said that Ms. Loud? I think it was when you visited Dimension HRM-YNDR-34"**_

The young girl shivers, "Hey! It's true! I'll never be able to get that image out of my head!"

" _ **You'll get over it."**_

"You still suck, you know that GLaDOS?"

" _ **I'll still take that as a compliment."**_

 _ **Dimension Designation Detected: WLVN-22708. Recalibrating!**_

And with that, Linka closes her eyes once more.

"Ok, let's see where I ended up this time." Linka quips as she opens her eyes once more. This time, revealing her backyard.

Linka takes a quick look around and whispers, "Ok, so far, so good…"

Only for ten identical children and this dimension's Lincoln counterpart to burst through the back door.

All ten children are about Lucy's height, and while they all have blonde hair, except for the Lucy counterpart of course, each child's hair is styled differently and they each wear a different set of clothing.

A dimension where the girls are all identical counterparts?" A shiver runs down the young girl's spine, " _I've dealt with Lana and Lola and Leif and Lexx for a long enough time to know, that this Lincoln doesn't get enough sleep, guaranteed."_ Then another thought cuts through her mind, _"How the heck did mom carry ten children at the same time?!"_

That's when the Lincoln counterpart tiredly walks into the backyard, before tiredly passing out on the grass, all while the ten identical sisters run around like the little balls of energy they are.

"Heh, I guess I was right."

 _ **Dimensional Designation Detected: ZNDR-2121! Recalibrating!**_

"Well… at least everything could be way worse." Linka quips, as she closes her eyes once again.

This time she finds herself standing in front of Luna and Luan's or Luke and Lane's room.

"Oh, oh!" Linka hears the boys shout.

"Why do I have a feeling I'm going to regret doing this?" Linka whispers as she phases through the door. Revealing Lane and Luke kissing, with Mrs. Coconuts nearby leaking a white fluid from her bottom.

Slowly, Linka pulls her head from the room, _"Ok… that was… unexpected. I wonder if the others…_ " She carefully walks over to Lynn and Lars' room and phases inside again, only to find Lynn in a maid dress and bunny ears and Lars standing in front of his… "Parts"

Linka slowly pulls her head out of the room again and steps over to what would be her room, _"Welp, if four of my brothers are like that here… I wonder what this dimension's Linka has to deal with."_ And with that, she phases through the door.

Only to find this reality's Linka trying to sleep in her bed with Loni, Leif, Lexx, Levi and Leon trying to sleep with her.

"I wish I had sisters… and a bigger bed." The Linka counterpart quips. While Linka chuckles, "You and me both, sister."

"Anyways, GLaDOS." She talks with a nonchalant tone, "Why'd you bring me to a dimension where four of my brothers are gay lovers?!"

" _ **Because I'm calibrating and this is the long route to it. That, and I thought it'd be important to desensitize you to this stuff. After all, infinite universes, infinite possibilities!"**_

"Well, it's working I guess, because I'm not shocked at all, just disappointed I guess?" Linka then sighs, "Just please hurry up and find the designation."

 _ **Dimensional Designation Detected: J-J-BNI-12/30. Recalibrating!**_

"This is getting annoying again!" Linka shouts.

" _ **Well sorry! It's not my fault that your brother throwing me against the wall damaged my calibration! I'm doing my best little missy!"**_

"Whatever." Linka crosses her arms in annoyance.

Then she opens her eyes, "Now, where am I?"

That's when the realization hits her; she's not at home for once, but rather standing in hospital room, with this dimension's version of Lincoln lying in a tear-soaked hospital gown.

"Why does this place give me a feeling that someone's dying?"

"You should've died." The middle-aged doctor goes.

"Thank you Doctor House." The Lincoln counterpart responds.

The doctor continues, "No seriously, you were just a few minutes from dying." And then the doctor goes and explains the reasons for this Lincoln surviving what sounds like a fatal event.

"And why didn't it happen?"

"Because your sister hit you in the head with a soccer ball. The impact, thanks to one of those unlikely to happen coincidences of life that only seems to happen to you-"

 _ **Dimension Designation Detected: UH-RFAL-C3. Recalibrating!**_

And with that, Linka shuts her eyes once more.

A few moments pass before she can open them again, and when she does so she thinks, _"Yeah, so many things that have happened lately have been due to life's coincidences just piling up."_ Then she sighs, "Hey GLaDOS, can you give me information on that dimension?"

 _ **Dimension UH-RFAL-C3. According to the Dimensional Catalogue of Information, it is the dimension in which Lincoln Loud is diagnosed with untreatable disease.**_

"Sounds like a heart wrenching story written by a college student."

" _ **Yes, yes it does."**_

"Anyways." Linka goes, "Where am I now?"

"Guardian Mode! Engage!" Linka watches as this dimension's Lincoln counterpart inserts a red curve-tipped star into a gauntlet, and punches it into the ground, "Lock in!"

Immediately, a red metal suit covers the boy's body. "Guardian Red! Guardian of the essence that fuels the flames of life!"

"A Dimension where I'm a guardian? I wonder if I'm like Cryptos here." Then she chuckles.

" _ **I highly doubt it. Most likely you're one of those guys from Pacific Rim or Power Rangers."**_

"Whatever." Then she looks at the suit closer, "Though, I have a feeling it's closer to Super Sentai than anything else." While she thinks, _"Dangit! This world looks awesome! Why couldn't I have gotten sent here?!"_

With that, the Lincoln counterpart charges at a nearby monster… only to get slapped away.

" _On second thought, I like not getting thrown against walls."_

 _ **Dimensional Designation Detected! TLA-GL-2! Recalibrating.**_

"This is getting really annoying."

" _ **Yes, yes it is."**_

Linka opens her eyes in yet another world, how this time Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan and Lynn and laying on the couch, each with an obviously pregnant belly.

"Uhh… what's going on?"

" _ **According to the Dimensional Catalogue of Information, they are all currently pregnant."**_

"Ok then… who's the father?" Linka steps over and attempts to rub their bellies.

" _ **Lincoln Loud."**_

Immediately, Linka snaps with, "GLaDOS! I thought I told you not to bring me to any dimensions where I was in a romantic relationship with my sisters!"

" _ **You're not. It's Lisa's experiment going awry."**_

Linka simply facepalms.

 _ **Dimensional Designation Detected: EXTS-OU-TPH-437-31. Recalibrating!**_

 _"Well, at least nothing can go wrong..."_

 _ **"Warning: Error Detected!"**_

 _"Oh come on!"_ Then she blinks twice, before shouting, "Wait what?!" and with that, the world around her, rather then melting away or flashing bright enough to force her eyes shut, disintegrates; leaving ruins in their place.

Linka looks around the now destroyed home, "GLaDOS, what the heck just happened?!"

" _ **Error in calibration. Working to correct."**_

*Groan* "Alright, fine! Just hurry up!" Linka goes, before walking out of the destroyed home and into the streets of the town.

" _ **Unit is working to correct error."**_

The young girl holds her arm nervously as she takes in the scene around her. The once blue sky is a dull grey. The once green lawns and trees are scorched, no doubt in a massive fire. The roads and sidewalks are torn, with their slabs thrown around randomly. And worst of all, there is no one outside, it is as if a war and a tornado had come down and ravaged everything.

" _Where am I?"_ Linka thinks.

" _ **Warning: Error detected."**_

 _ **Error Dimensional Designation Detected: AX-144.**_

"GLaDOS, what's going on with you?!"

" _ **Warning, unit does not know."**_

Once again, instead of simply melting away, the dimension disintegrates revealing the town of royal woods once more, this time occupied by unusual beings in hazmat-like military suits.

"What the heck?" Linka, like before, takes in the scene. From what she can see, the town itself is still in one piece, with many of the single-family homes replaced by large apartments. In the distance is a massive tower, looming over the town like a citadel of sorts.

Of the people she can see, the humans are dressed in blue jumpsuits, while the beings in the hazmat suits guide them around like prisoners.

"Huh? What are the Combine doing in this dimension?"

 _ **Error Dimensional Designation detected: CX-135!**_

And with that the dimensions shift once more. And Linka lands in her home dimension again.

"Those were Nyla and Trevor's home dimensions…" Linka whispers as she gets up and walks into the school building "If what Nyla sung is true… that means that anomalies caused those to fall apart…"

" _ **Home dimension detected, viewing mode engaged!"**_

" _You know what… I'll think about this more later… for now, I just have to go miss my sisters again…"_ And with that, she sighs, _"I just hope things are going to get better soon._

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Luke rests on his bed just staring at the ceiling, "There are other dimensions… ok I got that…" He repeats, "And Linka… my sister, is in a reality in which she's a boy and has ten sisters…"

Then, tears begin to fill his eyes, "And if what Linka or Lincoln or whatever their name is, told me is true… She isn't even trying to come home… Was being the only girl out of all of us really that bad?" He shakes his head, "No… it couldn't have been."

He sighs again, _"Though, I have to admit… I kinda like the slightly tomboy girl she is… I may find it odd, but then again she wasn't the most feminine girl before, and we liked her like that."_

The young man replays a memory he holds dear, the thought of Linka running around with her brothers, smiling all the while. And then, of the accident a few years back that caused their father to become the way he is now.

" _After that day, she became more… cut off from us…That was the last time I saw her smile a lot…_ " He thinks, before he sits up, _"She would never smile as much as she did in just those few minutes…"_

That's when he remembers what prompted this mess. Linka called him into her room with the guise of telling him something important.

 _ **An hour earlier…**_

"Hey Luke, I can trust you with anything, right?" Linka nervously asks, an Luke responds, "Of course sis. What's the problem?"

Linka takes in a deep breath and responds, "I'm not really your sister."

A wave of confusion overtakes the young man, yet he doesn't let it show and simple responds, "What do you mean Linka?"

"My name isn't Linka, it's Lincoln, and I'm from another dimension."

Luke tilts his head in confusion, "What the heck are you talking about sis? You're my sister, what's this… stuff about alternate realities and stuff?!"

Then she sighs, "A few months ago, I was a boy with ten loving sisters, but I was curious. I wanted to see what life on the other side was like, so my Lisa, your Levi, decided to make this." She then motions towards her golden watch; "This device was designed to send me to an alternate universe and back, so long as I did what I wanted within twenty-four hours. It was supposed to be simple."

Luke simply stands by, awestruck by the revelation.

"But sadly, it wasn't." Linka continues in a downcast tone, "Before I could get home, I got pushed away from my home portal by some version of me bent on destroying reality!"

"Destroying reality?"

"Yeah…" She then looks away shamefully, "After that, I ended up as a hormonal pre-teen girl with ten brothers. While the Guardian of Dimensions is asking me to get something called the macguffin to save everything! Not only that, but these weird hunter people are trying to seal me in cards too boot!"

And with that, Luke stares at the young girl, simply trying to comprehend what he just heard.

 _ **Back in the present…**_

"Yo Luke!" Lane shouts, "Earth to Luke!"

Immediately, Luke flinches, "Huh, what?"

Lane laughs, "It looks like you were bed-gazing! What's on your mind bro?"

Luke shakes his head, "Nothing bro." While he thinks, _"And now I find out that Linka's been acting strangely because she isn't really Linka? Why doesn't she want to come home? Why doesn't any of this stuff seem to fit?!"_

"I have to talk to Linka." Luke declares.

"Ahh, so girl stuff huh? Lane quips, "Just remember what dad says! Don't stick it unless you're prepared to handle eleven kids!" then he laughs some more.

Luke simply nods, before walking out of his room and over to his sister's. He stands before the wooden Linen closet door for a moment in hesitation, _"Either you try to forget and home things will work out, or you go and try to find out the truth Luke."_ And with that, he knocks.

"Come in!" The young girl on the other side cheers and he enters in response. "Hey Luke!" She greets.

"Ok Link… I'm willing to help." He speaks with a defeated tone.

Linka holds the dimensional goggles in her hands for a moment, before turning to her brother with, "Thanks Luke… To get home and save the world, I'm going to need all the help I can get."

"What's wrong?" Luke asks.

"I just found out where Nyla and Trevor came from."

"What do you mean."

Linka responds, "You know the hunters I mentioned earlier?"

Luke nods.

"Yeah, the girl from the club a few days ago and a guy named Trevor were both hunters… I just found out the dimensions they came from."

"By the sound of it, it wasn't pretty."

"Yeah… they weren't."

A few minutes of confused silence pass between the two siblings, before Linka shakes her head and asks, "Hey Luke, ever since I came here, I've felt urges to go out with boys. Why isn't Linka feeling the urge to go out with girls?"

Luke shrugs, "Maybe she liked girls here and then that feeling became a like of boys there." Then, he takes the goggles in his hands, "So Linka, I guess we're going to save the multiverse. What are we going to need to do?"

"Just wait I guess… do you know any rooms of secrets around? That's where William told me the first MacGuffin fragment would be found.

"No I-"

"Kids!" Rita shouts, "We need you to come down now! We have to tell you something!"

"I guess we'll have to talk about this later, Luke." Linka nervously goes.

"Yeah." Luke responds with an uncaring voice, before both he and his sister head downstairs.

"Hello you two." Lynn Sr. greets with a stern tone.

The Loud children gather around him, overcrowding the couch, with Linka in the middle, Luke and Loki at her sides and the over siblings sitting on the floor. Rita sits off to the side, cradling Leon.

The family patriarch stands up, his commanding gaze hanging over his children like a general leading his troops.

"You've got school tomorrow. Make sure you're ready and look out for each other and your sister, got that?"

The boys simply nod in unison.

"Linka, is something wrong?"

The girl flinches, "Huh, no, nothing's wrong. I understand and will be ready for school tomorrow." While she thinks, _"I just hope nothing else goes wrong. Luke seems determined to help though…"_

"Good, now come, your mother has finished cooking dinner." The father declares, before leading his sons to the kitchen, followed by Rita and Linka.

As she walks over to her seat, the one closest to Lynn Sr. Linka thinks, _"I wonder what craziness school will have in store…"_

23-5-12-16 9 7-21-5-19-19 20-8-9-19 13-5-1-14-19 12-9-14-11-1 9-19 7-5-20-20-9-14-7 19-15-13-5 8-5-12-16, 2-21-20 23-8-5-18-5 9-19 20-8-5 18-15-15-13 15-6 19-5-3-18-5-20-19?

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! I thank Wolvenstrom for some of the dialogue as well as a ton of the ideas for this chapter! As always, try to guess what story is coming next and send in any prompts you'd like to see done!**

 **Also, props to anyone who can guess which fics she got to visit this time! (credits are their designations)**

 **By the way, due to popular demand, this story is going to be updated on Saturdays in the coming weeks, though that may change when college starts again.**

 **Also:** 12-5-20-'19 8-15-16-5 14-5-24-20 3-8-1-16-20-5-18 3-15-13-5 15-14 6-18-9-4-1-25


	13. Brother Fight Club

**A/N Hey Guys! I'm back, and just as promised here's the weekly chapter! This time, posted on a Saturday! By the way, thanks for 20,000 views! I want to mark the occasion with something, so please, send in suggestions!**

 **Short story: I write these chapters on Wednesdays and edit the day before I post. Usually I have no issues, but this time for some reason I just wasn't inspired to work on the story 13 I had planned. Then, one of my friends PM-ed me at 8 at night with this story idea, and I liked it… a lot. Cue me writing this for 10 hours straight to get the writing and editing done in time!**

 **Also, this is probably the closest I'll ever get to actually using an episode for an idea.**

 **As always, R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Lincoln learns how her new siblings deal with their issues. "**_ _ **It'd also be interesting to see what the brothers equivalent of 'sister protocol' is." (Requested by Wolvenstrom)**_

Story Thirteen: Brother Fight Club

*Ring!* The school bell finally rings, signaling the end to yet another mundane school day.

Immediately, the numerous students jump out of their desks and make a mad dash for the door. Many of them would make their way to some afternoon activity while others would break off to work or the like.

Yet some, like Linka, are part of what the teachers call, "The Two-Thirty-Five Club."

"Bout time." Linka quips, as she pushes her chair from her desks and takes to her feet. "Man, I feel like I haven't been in school since October!" The young girl stretches, before grabbing her book bag, a pink backpack with a red heart and white angel wings on the side.

"Hey Linka." Claudia walks over carrying her own bag, "You sure you don't wanna hang out today? My moms got a new cat and, you know, it's super cute!"

Linka shakes her head, "Sorry Claudia, as much as I'd like to see it, my dad really wants me home, it's a bit cold and he doesn't want me getting sick."

Claudia looks away in disappointment, "Ok then…"

"Don't feel down Claudia." Linka playfully grabs onto her arm, "We can hang out later ok? You can tell me about France and about those weird cosplayers you met in Paris!"

Immediately, Claudia's face goes red, "S-sure Linka, I'd love to do that!" And with that, two girls hug.

"Hey Linka! You comin'?" Lynn calls, "We're waitin' for ya sis!"

"Coming!" She breaks her hug with Claudia, grabs her bags, and runs over to her waiting siblings, "All right guys. Let's go home."

And with that, the Loud Siblings walk through the winding halls of Royal Woods Elementary and Middle School, before they come to a set of metal doors. Lynn and Leif nod at each other, before running at the door, slamming at the lock bars and forcing them open, causing a burst of cold airs to slam into them.

Linka responds by zippering her yellow button-down jacket and securing a red bonnet to her head. "Ok guys, let's move!"

Within minutes, the family is walking down the sidewalk, just as they had done countless times before. The warm sun's rays fall down upon the young family like rainfall, bringing a comforting heat to their frostbitten nerves.

"Hey Linka, how was your first day back?" Lynn walks side-by-side with his sister.

Linka smiles at him, "It was all right I guess. Nothing really interesting happened." While she thinks, _"But I've had the strangest feeling that I should bring the Matter Key with me…_ "

Then she looks forward, "So how about you bro? Did you get to show off your you-know-what moves?"

Lynn rubs the back of his head and puts on a sheepish smile, "I would've but the teachers said it was too cold to do Baseball outside, so I ended up having to show off my Wiffleball skills.

" _Yeah, Wiffleball, totally not the new ballet moves you showed me yesterday."_ Linka chuckles at the thought of Lynn dancing for her, while wearing a tutu.

"I'm sure the girls loved it." Linka jokingly quips.

"Ye-yeah, they loved it!" Lynn's face goes red in embarrassment, "The teacher said she had never seen anyone with my level of skill before."

Linka then turns around, "What about you guys, how'd you enjoy the first day back?"

"Sigh." Lars responds, "I ended up with more than enough inspiration for my story about bullying, I'm planning on calling it, 'Just Like A Purple Sky'." Then the young boy looks at the notebook he had written in, "My writing is still more interesting than everything else I did today… it almost reminds me of the futility of life."

"Bro… you really need to lighten up." Lexx responds, before puffing out his chest, "I, on the other hand, had been allowed to go on a date with my beloved Nala!" The actor boy then pulls out a picture of the blonde girl in pink overalls.

Aww, that's so cute! You two are perfect for each other!" Linka smiles and thinks, _"Yeah, more perfect than you'd think. To think, I don't even know if dating the female counterpart of your twin from an alternate reality counts as incest or not."_

Leif then speaks up, "Yeah, that's good for you bro." He crosses his arms in frustration, "Today wasn't that good for me."

Linka raises an eyebrow, "Oh? Why's that bro?"

"Is someone bullying you?" Lynn immediately cracks his knuckles, "You know what we'll do to anyone who hurts our brother!"

"Yeah, only we get to do that." Linka chuckles, "So tell us, what happened that's got you so riled up?"

"I got detention!" Leif flares his arms up.

Lexx turns to his twin, "Seriously? That's what you're annoyed about? Don't you get detention like every other day? What's got you so annoyed this time?"

"It's because well…" Leif looks at the ground, "I don't know how I was caught this time. Usually, if I'm caught I'm doing something out in the open, you know, like getting a little rough with a game, or being late to class." Then Leif looks back at his twin brother, "But this time, I was playing Pocket Monsters in my locker with my friend acting as lookout. He didn't know how it happened either."

"Oh?" Linka goes, "Maybe he just didn't notice them, after all, he could've been too busy watching you play."

Yet, Leif simply shakes his head, "The thing is though, he just appeared in front of us. My friend's pretty good at what he does and was actually looking around. You know, like an actual lookout. Then wham!" The young boy slaps his hands together, "He just appears out of nowhere and gives us both detention."

" _Strange… maybe that's an anomaly or something…"_ Linka then shrugs, "Oh well then I guess. There's nothing much you can do about it now except serve it."

Lynn then nudges Linka, "Hey sis, we're here."

And with that, the brothers and their one sister turn.

"This is where I drop you guys off, I have to go to practice ok?" Lynn continues and his siblings respond by nodding.

"Awesome." Lynn then turns and continues down the block, his destination: a place only Linka knows about.

"Ok bros, let's head inside." Linka turn turns and continues down the icy path and over to the front door. With a quick movement, the door opens up… And immediately, Lexx and Levi run passed the girl with, "Time to open that new box of cards we got!"

Lars then follows, "I should get to writing, the only reason why I'm able to post something so soon is because a friend sent me an idea at the last second and I stayed up all night working on it. Yawn, I'm going to edit what I have, post it, and go to sleep." And with that, the spooky boy walks up the stairs.

" _Heh, first day back to school. At least it could've been worse."_ And with that, Linka steps into the home, closes the door behind her and heads up to her room as well.

She throws her pretty pink bag on the floor, before plopping down in her chair, "What a day, random bullying from Chandler over Claudia's sexuality, random homework assignments, a kiss from Ron Andy…" Linka blushes, "That guy… he's so cute."

Linka then shakes her head, _"You seriously have to get a hold of yourself Linka, err Lincoln, what would Ronnie Anne think?!"_ Her expression softens, _"Actually, she thinks I'm gay for Clyde… right…"_

"Well, let's see what damage the real Linka has done this time." She whispers, before going into her drawer and pulling out a familiar set of goggles. Within seconds, she's strapped in, "Ok GLaDOS, you-"

*Crash!* Linka hears one of the doors burst open, followed by some unintelligible screaming.

" _Should I intervene? I mean… it sounds like my brothers are fighting…_ " the memory of what happened when her sisters fought echoes in her mind, _"You know what, if the sisters have a sister fight protocol, I'm pretty sure the brothers-"_

"Linka!" The twins kick open the girl's room door and shout, "We need your help!"

Linka stares at them in annoyance for a moment, before gritting her teeth, "Both of you, get out of my room and knock!" There is fire in the young girl's eyes as the twins back away slowly, close the door and knock twice.

" _What the heck Linka?! Your sisters always barged in on you!"_

The young girl takes a deep breath, before opening the door, revealing Leif and Lexx, standing with their hands both holding a Duel Monsters Card.

"What's the problem?" She asks, annoyance filling her voice.

Lexx speaks, "Leif and I pulled a rare card and we need help deciding who should get it!"

Leif responds, "I pulled it!"

Yet, his twin counters, "Yeah, but we always share our card pulls!"

"So… you barged into my room, to bother me with some menial issue like this?" Linka holds her anger back, _"Why does this bother me so much?!"_

"Uhh… yeah sis…" Leif rubs the back of his head. "We just don't know how to deal with this…"

Linka crosses her arms in frustration, "Seriously? You two play this game together! What do you want me to do?"

Lexx takes a deep breath, "We want you to choose who should get the card."

 _"Wow... well, I guess this is brother fight protocol..."_ Linka thinks for a moment, before snapping her fingers, "Ok guys, how about this: you both have Duel monsters decks, how about you both duel for it?"

Lexx and Leif look at each other in shock, before turning back to Linka and nodding. Lexx pulls out his duel disk and shouts, "Great idea Linka!"

"This brother fight is on!" Leif responds, before turning and running out of the room, "Race ya to the ARC System!"

"You're on!" Lexx shouts, before chasing his twin out the door.

With that, Linka sits back down and chuckles, " _I guess brother fights are just more relaxed than sister fights. After all, in a sister fight they wouldn't even talk to each other. And when they did, they'd always ended up arguing more."_

*Slam* the front door goes.

"We're home guys!" Loki calls out, before the four oldest Loud Brothers head up to their rooms.

"Hmm, I should ask about it. After all, who knows, maybe it could come in handy." Linka then stands up and walks over to Luke and Lane's room.

"Knock, knock." She goes, knocking on the door as she does so.

Luke flinches, before he turns and responds, "Hey Link, what brings you here so soon?"

"Oh I-"

"Three!" Lane shouts, cutting her off.

Linka turns to the clown boy and tilts her head in confusion, "Three?"

Lane throws his head back in laughter, "Oh nothing Linka. I was just estimating how many d-"

Immediately, Luke slaps him upside the head, "Not the time Luke, you seriously need to watch your mouth." Then, Luke turns to his sister, "So, why'd you come Link? You know we have to get to homework, before we do anything else."

Linka rubs the back of her head in embarrassment, "Oh, sorry. I just wanted to ask you something... in my room."

Luke raises an eyebrow, "Girl stuff huh?"

"Ye- yes." Linka nervously responds.

"Come on sis!" Lane gestures at the young girl's hair, "Hair are you going? You just got here!"

Immediately, she turns and looks at the room's mirror... only to find that her long, white locks were now randomly twisted and turned, as well as the top was more rounded than usual, _"No doubt about it, I have hat hair!"_

"No, no, it's now about my hat hair..." Linka sighs, "Though I do have to get it fixed later." She then turns to Luke, "I just wanted to ask you something personal Luke."

"Ooo, maybe you can show her your moves bro!" Lane playfully nudges Luke, eliciting a glare from his older sibling.

" _You know... after dealing with lanes shitty puns, I thought I'd stop getting angry over them... but you know what, I haven't."_ Linka thinks, before asking, "So can we talk?"

Luke hesitates for a moment, before grabbing his bass guitar, strapping it to his back and nodding. "All right sis. Let's go."

A few seconds later, the duo are standing in Linka's room once more.

"So, why'd you call?" Luke sits on the young girl's bed and begins to strum away."

Linka rubs the back of her head nervously, "I just wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah? Is it about you-know-who?"

Linka shakes her head, "No, no. I was just wondering if you guys have a 'brother fight protocol' or something like that."

"Brother fight protocol?" Luke tilts his head in confusion, "What's that sis?"

The young girl's voice softens, "Back home, my sisters had an entire list of stuff they had to do when two or more of them got in an argument. What do you guys do here?"

Luke rubs his chin, "Well, it's not so much or a protocol as it is just what we do." Luke motions for Linka to sit down next to him and she complies, "We just kick each other's arses and make sure that you're not around to see."

"Why's that?"

"There are reasons I'd rather not talk about, but the main reason is cause us guys, unlike those girls you see in your five o'clock cartoons, can go a bit... overboard. And we don't want to risk you getting hurt."

"And why would-"

*Boom!*

"What was that?!"

Luke stands up, "Sounds like it came from the backyard!" He then turns and runs out the door.

 _"Should I? If it's a brother fight..."_ Linka hesitates, before shaking her head, _"Nah, these are your brothers! Their fights can't get that out of hand... right?"_

Then, she stands up and follows.

A few moments later, she runs out the door and into the freezing, snow-filled backyard, where her brothers and standing, watching Leif and Lexx duke it out for their prize

"So, what's going on Loki?" Linka runs over to her eldest brother.

Loki turns to her and responds, "Oh, nothing Linka!" He puts on a desperately sheepish smile, "Lexx and Leif are just having a nice, calm duel is all."

"A duel?!" Linka's voice fills with excitement, "Can I watch bro?!"

"No, no. Uhh..." Loki quickly looks around, "Wouldn't you rather uhh..."

Linka looks him straight in the eyes and uses her own, "Please big brother. I wanna see my brothers play."

"Dad is going to kill me if I let her see this..." Loki hesitates, "but if she really wants to be our brother... it may help her to know how we sort our problems out... just to know what she's getting into..."

"Please Loki." Linka begs and Loki sighs, "All right sis. You know I could never say no to those eyes."

Linka squeaks in delight, "Thanks Loki! You're the best!" And with that, she hugs him.

"Yeah, yeah." Loki responds, "I guess having a soft spot for my sister is the reason why I'm her favorite."

And so, Linka stands in front of her brothers as she watches Leif and Lexx's fight.

"Go Raikiri! Destroy Revolution Falcon!" Lexx points at his disheveled twin. Leif's blue overalls are torn with only one strap remaining in place while his hat is tattered. Lexx is no better, however, his typical white polo and pink scarf are dirtied and tattered from the battle at hand.

Immediately, the birdman flies up. Raikiri is bird-like with a metal right wing, and black left wing. He has bird-like feet and a samurai sword in his right hand and his body is covered in bird-like purple armor.

With one swoop the beast cuts the robot bird in half.

"Now attack his life points directly!" Lexx declares, "End this duel Raikiri!"

"I'm not letting you win that easily Lexx!" Leif shouts, "I banish RaidRaptor Readiness in the grave to protect my life points this turn!"

Immediately, and translucent barrier appears around the young boy, causing the birdman's attack to flow around him.

"Curses." Lexx lowers his disk, "I end my turn."

"My turn!" Leif declares, "And I'll play Rank-Up-Magic Soul Shave Force!" Immediately, Leif's counter falls to 500 while the once destroyed Revolution falcon takes to the field once more, before glowing with purple aura and flying into a starry black hole.

Leif's voice fills solemnity as he shouts, "Dauntless falcon, ignite the flames of rage and become the light that scorches the Earth! Go, Rank-Up Xyz Evolution! You're clear for take off, RaidRaptor Satellite Cannon Falcon!"

And with that, a massive metal bird takes to the field, a golden shielding protects its rounded white body while its wings consist of thin metal sheets with engines at the sides takes to the field.

"Oh poop." Lexx goes.

"You know it bro." Leif responds, before pointing at the avian warrior, "Kill Sat Falcon! Destroy Raikiri!"

And with that, the massive metal bird raises its elongated neck towards the heavens, aims it's engines and launches itself into the stratosphere. Finally, Leif shouts, "Go! Stellar Cannon Bombardment!"

Within seconds, a bright green laser descends from the stratosphere, zeroing out the birdman's attack and engulfing both him and Lexx in a pillar of light... as well as causing a pile of snow to fall on Linka and Loki.

Lane breaks out into laughter, "I guess that's what you call some 'Angry Birds'!" Then he points at his brothers, "That's what happens when you guys have a cock fight!"

" _Well, at least these jokes don't grind my gears."_ Linka thinks, before she pushes through the snow covering her. "A-chu!"

"You ok sis?" Loki reacts and immediately pulls out a handkerchief.

Linka simply nods in response, "Yeah bro, I'm fine. Just a bit cold is all. That was amazing!"

Loki smiles, nods and motions back at the two brothers.

"Ahh, good game Lexx, but alas, I win." Leif declares as he walks over to his twin. Lexx lies in a small crater with his arms outstretched. Leif offers his hand.

Lexx tiredly opens his eyes, "Good game Leif, you win this round." And with that, he takes Leif's hand, "You win the card."

And with that, Leif outstretches his arms, "Awkward sibling hug?"

"Awkward sibling hug." Lexx responds, and the twins come together in an embrace, before their eyes go wide and they both say, "Pat, pat."

"Huh, I guess that-"

"Boys!" Lynn Sr. angrily shouts, immediately grabbing the Loud Brother's attention. Their father stands in front of the backdoor, his arms crossed and his expression filled with rage, "Living room, now! Linka, head up to your room while I talk to your brothers!"

Linka nods, "Ok…" before walking passed her father and going up to her room.

The boys on the other hand, file in and take their places at the living room couch. A fearful hush overtakes the boys as their father stands in front of them.

"So, care to tell me who's bright idea was it to let Linka see one of your sibling fights? You know how out of hand they can get!" The man's voice is filled with both concern and anger.

"Come on dad, it wasn't that bad!" Loni looks away and puts an awkward smile on, "I mean, she wasn't in any danger!"

Lynn Sr. facepalms, "Leif just fired a laser from orbit. I trust you boys with that ARC system because you're tough enough to take the hits! But Linka isn't. She ended up covered in snow and shivering because of your antics!"

Loki then stands up, "I apologize for my lapse in judgment. I tried to get her to leave, but she asked to see what Leif and Lexx were doing and I decided that their game was in no way dangerous to her. So I decided to let her watch."

"Oh really now?" Lynn Sr. thinks for a moment, "Then tell me Loki, was she entertained?"

"Yes sir, she seemed to enjoy their game, no matter how little of it she got to see." Loki's voice fills with a submissive authority.

"Ok then." The father then turns to his wife, and Rita nods, "All right then, you are not grounded."

"But?" Luke asks.

"We're letting you off the hook because Linka asked to see and seemed to be entertained, but don't let her see your fights. We don't want to remind her of the 'incident' a few years back."

Levi, Lexx and Leif all tilt their heads in confusion, but remain silent as their father continues.

"Is that clear?"

"Understood sir." The boys unanimously respond.

Lynn Sr. then turns to his wife, "Good, now all of you, go to your rooms. And Loki, send Linka down to help your mother cook dinner." And with that, he takes the young Leon in his arms and walks into his own bedroom.

And with that, the brothers head to their rooms, with Loki walking over to Linka's modified linen closet.

"Hey Linka." Loki's voice is filled with a fatherly care.

Linka takes off her goggles and responds, "Yeah bro?"

"Mom and dad want you to come down, Mom needs your help cookin'."

Linka smiles, "Awesome, I'll be down in a few seconds."

Then, the young soldier turns, "Oh, and sorry about having to see that. We usually try to keep our fights out of sight because… sometimes we get a little carried away."

Linka simply waves him off, "It's fine Loki, I found it very entertaining to see, after all, it's not everyday I see a satellite canon fly up into space and send a laser crashing down." While she thinks, _"But why do I feel like I'm supposed to have repressed memories of something involving a fight…"_

And then, she sneezes, "Ah-chu!"

"You ok sis?" Loki stares at her with determination filling his eyes.

"Yeah Loki." Linka waves him off, "I'm fine."

The eldest brother nods, "All right then. If you need to talk or need help with something, you know where to find me."

"Thanks Loki."

And with that, the young man turns around and walks away, leaving the young girl behind.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Well Luke… what to do, what to do. I've finished my homework and my daily song." He whispers.

" _And the real Linka's in an alternate reality, and I can't even talk to her… the closest I can get are Link's goggles… that were made by Levi!"_ The young man's eyes go wide in realization, _"I_ _ **can**_ _talk to her. I just need to get Levi to make me a set of goggles that have that ability!"_

He then turns and jumps out of his bed, before making a beeline for the door and walking over to his scientist brother's room.

"Hey Levi, you busy right now?"

Levi turns from his computer and shakes his head, "Not at all brother. I'm just working with Chlorine Trifluoride and some Azidoazide Azide. Is there anything you need?"

Luke rubs the back of his head, "Yeah, you made those Dimension-viewing goggle-things for Linka correct?"

"Yes I did." Levi turns around and scrolls to his schematics of the device, "I've been working on the device, but seeing as the prototype has been so successful and Linka hasn't really asked for anything other than minor corrections, I have had no reason to start production on an upgraded version." Then his voice fills with slight embarrassment, "That and that the U.S. Army would try to get me to make more of these for 'national security' purposes."

"Oh… I see…" Luke's voice fills with uncertainty. "Well I was wondering if you could, maybe, make another set for me?"

Levi shrugs, "Sure. But for what purpose if I may ask? What's in it for me, and what features do you want it to have specifically?"

Luke sighs, "I want the goggles to have the ability to talk to people within those alternate universes, because I'm curious. As for what's in it for you… what do you want?"

"To be honest brother, I'll do it for no cost, I'll just save it as a favor for later, if that's all right with you."

For a moment, Luke hesitates, yet he simply sighs in defeat, "Ok Levi. That's fine." While he repeats, _"I need to talk to you Linka… and I guess Link needs to talk to you as well given as they say you're ruining their life…"_

And with that, he turns and walks out of the room, "Thanks Levi."

Then scientist then turns back to his computer, "I hope that I'll be able to fulfill my end of this deal, after all, these pesky anomalies just keep on growing, and I can't seem to deal with this stuff yet."

" _Why don't you want to come home Linka…"_ Luke thinks as he carefully walks down the stairs, his base guitar strapped firmly to his back, _"We loved you, did everything we could to protect you, heck! We wouldn't stop caring for you!"_

"Hey Luke." Lars greets, while appearing from the shadows.

Immediately, the young man flinches, "G'ahh! Where'd you come from?!"

"I wanted to ask you about a story I was writing."

"Why do you ask Linka? She's a better choice for writing than me after all."

Lars responds, "Sigh, I would, but she's currently busy cooking dinner for us., and it's not a good idea to interrupt their mother-daughter bonding time."

The memory of the last time one of the boys tried to cut in on their two girls bonding flashes in the young man's mind, causing him to shiver. "Hmm, ok then. What's your story idea?"

Lars takes a deep breath and responds, "It's-"

 _ **The next day…**_

*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!* The alarm clock goes, filling the dark morning with its annoying greeting.

"Ugh." Linka groans, "Morning already?"

She tiredly leans over and smashes her hand against the "snooze" button, causing the digital device to stop its beeping… only for it to immediately switch to radio, _**"Good morning Royal Woods! It's a beautiful Tuesday morning up here! It's a balmy twenty-seven degrees and the weather calls for some spotty snowfall and sunshine!"**_

" _Well… I guess it's not as bad as it could be."_ Linka thinks, before she tosses and turns in her bed for a moment, eventually causing her to end up sitting straight up. *Yawn* "Ok then. Let's-"

"Kids! Hurry! You're going to be late!" Rita shouts, her motherly voice cutting through the morning chaos.

Linka groggily stands up and sneezes, "Ugh." And with that, she tiredly walks downstairs. Her brothers are already waiting at the tables, with Rita serving them bacon and eggs, just as they always want.

"Good morning Linka!" Rita greets. The lone daughter tiredly takes her seat next to her father, before tiredly responding, "Good morning mom."

"You feelin' ok sis? You don't look too hot." Lynn goes, tilting his head as he says so.

"Yeah, bro. I'm fine."

Rita stares at her daughter for a moment, before standing up, walking over to the first aid kit they keep bolted by the door and pulling out a special gun-shaped thermometer. "You sure Linka?"

Linka puts on a weak smile and nods, "Yeah mom."

"Let's see what this says…" Rita aims and the device measures her temperature. A few seconds later, the reading comes up. "Linka you have a fever of one hundred and three degrees, you're sick. You have to stay home from school today."

The Loud Brothers respond by turning to their waiting father, as if preparing for a command to come.

" _If they are anything like my sisters back home, I have a bad feeling about what is about to happen._ " Linka thinks, before Rita grabs hold of her arm, "Come on Linka. Let's get you in bed."

Linka sighs in defeat, "All right mom, let's go." And with that, the mother leads her daughter up to her room.

Back at the table, Lynn Sr. puts his newspaper down and looks at his five eldest children, "You boys know what to do, make sure Linka's sick day is at least somewhat tolerable. I'll call you all in sick to take care of her, ok?"

The five eldest boys nod, before standing up and rushing to their rooms.

Lynn Sr. then stands up and walks into the kitchen where his five youngest children are eating, "You five, get ready for school. Your sister may be sick, but I can't give all of you a free pass to take care of her.

A collective groan emanates from the four youngest boys, while Leon just continues playing with his food.

"I'm driving you, so come on and hurry up." And with that, Lynn Sr. walks over to his room.

Within minutes, the youngest siblings eat their meals and rush up to their rooms as well.

* * *

"Feel better Linka, your older brothers are going to take care of you today, all right?" Rita assures, while tucking her sick daughter in.

"Thanks mom." Linka responds, before turning to her and closing her eyes. _"Well, at least things can't get too bad. After all, it's just five brothers and they're just going to make sure that today isn't going to be that bad… I hope at least."_

And with that, Rita stands up and steps out of the room… only for her first brother to walk in with, "Hey Linka!"

The sick girl rolls on her bed, only to find Lane standing before her, with Mrs. Coconuts resting on his arm.

" _Why do I feel like I don't wanna know where that puppet has been."_ Linka thinks, while she groggily responds, "Hey Lane."

"What did the suited banana say to the apple?" Lane speaks through his dummy.

Linka responds, "I don't know, what?"

Lane smiles as Mrs. Coconuts finishes, "I find this clothing really a-peel-ing!"

"Heh, that's the best joke you made all week Lane." Linka responds with a smile, _"Plus, it's the only one that hasn't made me mad!"_

"I got another one, wanna hear Link?"

"Sure Lane."

"Ok Mrs. Coconuts, what's a pirate's favorite letter?" Lane smiles as the puppet responds, "I don't know Lane, what is it?"

"Now, you may think it's arr, but nay! His love be the C!" Lane's voice gains a powerful excitement to it.

Linka chuckles, "Haha! You did a great job Lame! Those puns weren't Lane!"

Lane responds by throwing his head back in laughter as well, "Nice pun sis." And with that, he stands up and walks out of the room, making sure to close the door eer so slowly as he does so.

Then he turns, and comes face-to-face with his four other brothers.

"What the heck Lane?! You know that the best way to take care of a sick sister isn't to tell them bad puns, it's to play music to them." Luke strums his acoustic guitar with that.

"You pretend what you say you feel. You pretend that you're something special. All you're lies that you hide behind- " Luke starts to sing… only for Lane to pull a pie out and smash it against his older brother's face.

"We want Linka to feel better not feel like she doesn't matter!" Lane counters.

"Ok then!" Luke wipes the pie off his face and strums again. "Still, and silent. A calm before the storm-"

Lane cuts him off again, while clenching his fists, "That'll just put her to sleep!"

Luke secures his guitar to his back and clenches his fists as well. "Maybe that's what she needs! She's sick after all! What makes you think she wants lame puns for six hours straight?!"

"Guys, guys calm down." Loni gets between them, "What Linka needs is fashion and construction stuff. She's going to be bored waiting for her cold to go away, so the least we can do is go in there and make sure that she's not too bored!"

Luke and Lane look at their older brother for a short moment, before looking back at each other and punching.

Immediately, Luke and Lane fall to the ground, doing their best to overpower the other.

"She needs nice music!" Luke wrestles Lane under him, yet, not to be outdone, Lane forces Luke off and gets on top, "No! She needs laughs! Laughter makes everything better after all!"

"Guys! Stop fighting! Linka's sick, it's not the time to argue over how to take care of her!" Loni begs, while desperately trying to stop his younger siblings from fighting.

"Guys! Attention!" Loki commands, and immediately, Loni, Luke and Lane stand up and fall into line. "Seriously?" The young man's voice is filled with annoyance, "Linka's sick and you guys are fighting?! Make up right now or so help me I will turn you into human pretzels!"

Lane rubs his arm awkwardly, while Luke mounts his acoustic guitar.

"Sorry bro. I just got a little carried away." Lane looks away shamefully.

"Sorry, I did too." Luke responds, "Laughter an music will both help speed up her recovery, right?" Luke then begins to strum away, creating a soft melody.

Loni cuts in, "Yeah! And to stop her from being bored, I can go through fashion magazines with her! Girls love fashion right?!"

Luke grits his teeth, "Yeah, our sister loves fashion." While he thinks, _"I just hope whoever is in her body right now does as well, or else they're in for a boring time."_

Loki rubs his chin, "Ok then. Get to work you three. Lynn and I have to make the chicken soup for her."

"Sir, yes sir!" The three boys respond, before Luke revs up his acoustic guitar and walks into Linka's room. Loni and Lane then both turn and run over to their room to prepare, while Loki and Lynn head downstairs to make the soup.

 _ **A few hours later…**_

"Ok, there's only one thing let to do Lynn." Loki goes, before pulling some soup out in a ladle and tasting it. He smacks his lips for a second, before nodding, "Perfect for our sick little sister."

Lynn cheers, "Awesome! Let's give it to her!"

"Sure, I'll give it to her in a few-"

"But I want to give it to her!" Lynn cuts in, "After all, she feels most comfortable around me!"

Loki raises an eyebrow in response, "Oh really now?" He throws his head back in laughter, "Giving soup to our sister is my job!"

"I heard laughter!" Lane sticks his head into the kitchen, "What's the joke?"

Loki motions at his younger brother, "Lynn here just said that he should bring the soup to Linka."

Lane smiles, "The soup's done?! I wanna bring it to Linka too!" Lane then steps into the kitchen.

"No fair! Loki and I worked for hours to get mom's recipe right!" Lynn cuts in, "I skipped practice and didn't spend too much time with Linka to help!"

Loni and Luke then both stick their heads in the opening, "We heard screaming, what's the issue?" Then their eyes fall upon the pot, filled with mama's homemade soup. The two then look at each other for a moment, before the realization hits them, and together they shout, "We want to give her the soup too!"

"If you want to give her the soup, you'll have to get passed me!" Loki declares, before raising his fists in defiance.

Lynn proceeds to tackle him to the floor. Yet, Loki reacts quickly and throws him off, before rolling back, and pushing Lane away from the cauldron.

Loni comes from behind to stop him with, "Loki, guys, we don't need to fight!"

Luke proceeds to come up and restrain Lane. Lynn takes advantage of the situation and pours a bowl filled with the soup.

"Not today!" Loki shouts, before elbowing Loni, causing his slightly younger brother to pull back in pain. "You're not getting away that easily Lynn!"

Luke then lets go of Lane… only for Lane to run and immediately do the same, only to be countered by Loni.

"Boys!" A feminine voice angrily calls out, "To the couch, now!"

Within moments, the five oldest Loud Boys are sitting on the couch, beaten and bruised, but still very much conscious.

"What do you kids have to say for yourselves?!" She angrily shouts, "Your sister is sick and you guys can't stop arguing to take care of her?! How am I supposed to leave her in your trust if you guys keep breaking out into fist fights?!"

The boys look at each other regretfully, before turning to their mother and sorrowfully responding, "We're sorry mom."

"Good, now take care of your sister, I have to make a few phone calls." And with that, their mother walks out of the living room and into their parent's bedroom.

"Together?" Lynn asks and Loki responds, "Together."

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

*Knock* *knock* the door to Linka's room goes.

The sick young girl tiredly responds, "Come in."

And immediately, the door to her room opens up, revealing five bruised, but still conscious brothers, each holding a bowl of chicken soup.

"What did you guys fight over this time?" Linka asks with a concerned tone.

Loni waves her off, "Oh nothing much. It was just some boy stuff, no big deal."

The young girl smiles, before taking Loki's bowl of soup in her hands, "Thanks you guys, you're the best brothers a girl can have!"

The brothers simply nod in agreement, before turning around and leaving the girl alone in her room once more.

Linka then sighs, _"I just wish you really were my brothers."_

A few more moments of silence pass… before another person knocks on the door. "Come in." Linka responds, and a familiar woman opens the door.

"How are you feeling? Rita steps into her sick daughter's room.

"I'm all right I guess." Linka lies back, "The guys are doing a great job caring for me."

"That's great to hear Linka." Rita whispers, before placing a loving kiss upon her daughter's forehead and walking out of the room, making sure to turn the lights off, before she closes the door. "Goodnight!"

6-9-18-19-20 18-21-12-5 15-6 12-15-21-4 8-15-21-19-5 6-9-7-8-20 3-12-21-2: 4-15-14-'20 20-1-12-11 1-2-15-21-20 12-15-21-4 8-15-21-19-5 6-9-7-8-20 3-12-21-2.

 **A/N As always, I thank Exotos for his help and Wolvenstrom for the prompt! I hope you guys enjoyed! And as always, send in prompts you'd like to see done!**

 **Also, do you think this story was rushed or too slow? How did it make you guys feel? This is the simplest chapter I've made so far. Also, what I planned for chapter 13 original will probs come later, don't worry.**


	14. School Time Follies

**A/N Hey guys! I hope you're enjoying yourselves! This chapter took two weeks (4 working days) to write, so many deleted scenes and so many rewrites. This was supposed to come out last week, but it just didn't work out. Luckily, the extra time it took to get this done allowed me to ask my female friends how girls fight usually. I hope you enjoy!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Just a simply day at school, and the return of Lincoln's mission. "**_ _ **Really the only thing you only glanced on is how girls handle female bullies" (Not really requested, but the idea came from this quote. Quote by Wolvenstrom).**_

Story Fourteen: School Time Follies

"Ahh, school mornings." Linka quips, "The perfect time to remind me that no matter how crazy and different this dimension is, it's still my home… in a way." The young girl chuckles, before removing the towel from her newly dried hair and putting her underwear on.

" _Ok then, time to get ready for school."_ The young girl then turns towards her clothing rack and grabs two blouses. She looks at herself in the mirror for a moment and tilts her head, _"You know, I still haven't gotten used to looking myself in the mirror like this…"_

She then puts the first shirt in front of her and shakes her head, before doing the same with the second, _"Dangit, which one do I pick?"_ Then, an idea flashes through the young girl's mind. She opens her door slightly and shouts, "Hey Lexx! You mind coming over here?!"

"Kinda busy Linka!" The young boy responds, "I'm trying to get Leif ready!"

"Dangit." Linka grits her teeth, before shouting, "How about you Lynn? Do you mind coming over?!"

A few moments pass, before Lynn responds, "Yeah Linka! I'll be over in a few secs!" And before Linka can respond, Lynn knocks.

"Huh, you weren't kiddin'." Linka quips, before opening her door fully.

Immediately, Lynn's face goes red in embarrassment, and he covers his eyes, "Oh, uh, hey Linka. Why'd you call me? And uhh… why are you in your underwear?"

"I wanted you to ask you something is all." The girl answers while she holds the two blouses up, "Orange or tangerine?"

"Uhh…" Lynn stammers, peaking from his makeshift cover to look, "Are you seriously asking me, of all people, about fashion?"

"Well I wanted to ask Lexx, but he seems busy with Leif. Going by the crashing sounds coming from their room, it's probably not pretty." Then, she rubs the back of her head, "And given your eye for detail cause you-know-what I think you can help here. So, orange or tangerine?"

"I uhh…" He moves his hand away from his eyes and looks upon his sister's two dress choices. "I think you should go with the tangerine, it looks better on you sis." Then he tugs at his collar, his face becoming redder. "Do you need anything else?"

"Nope, thanks bro!" Linka responds, excitement filling her voice.

"Got it!" And with that, he scurries out of the room and slams the door shut behind him.

"Heh, he's still awkward about everything. He's opened up a bit, and I wish he did more, but hey, it could always be worse." Linka then chuckles, before putting the tangerine blouse on and giving it a matching blue skirt. "Awesome, you look irresistible Linka! The boys are gonna love ya!"

Then, she rubs her chin for a quick moment, before snapping her fingers, turning to the pink bag on the floor, grabbing it and mounting it on her chair. "Let's see, math book, English book, science book, quantum physics book and social studies book." She quickly rubs her chin, "Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?"

"I think I'll be able to answer that question." A masculine voice responds, before a familiar man appears with a soft flash of light.

Linka looks up at the ancient being for a moment, before returning to her packing. "Hey Bill. Where've you been for the past, I don't know, month or so?"

"You mean five chapters?" William places his hands behind his back.

"What?"

William shakes his head, "Never mind, you will not understand what I am talking about."

Linka shrugs, before grabbing hold o her bag and securing it to her back, "Ok then. So where have you been?"

"I've been busy stopping the majority of the AEU Hunters from coming here, especially given the current circumstances." William answers with concern in his voice, "I came by to check up on you."

"I'm doing all right William. I'm still finding it a bit hard to adjust still, but I'm managing." The young girl turns to face her mirror once more and begins to adjust her long, white, hair, "If I've seen you enough times by now, I'm pretty sure you're here for more than just that reason."

The Guardian sighs, before tilting his top hat down, "Yes, I came to ask you how your mission is going. As far as I am aware, you have not even come close to locating the first fragment, and you've been at this mission for over a month at this point!"

"Well don't blame me Cryptos!" Linka snaps back, before staring at him with angry eyes, "You haven't done much to help! I mean seriously, 'The first fragment is hidden in a room of secrets'? Could you even get more vague than that?!"

Cryptos gives a sigh in defeat, before pinching the bridge of his nose, "All right then, I see I should have made myself more clear." Then he looks at Linka with fatherly eyes, "As a guardian, it is embarrassing to have to ask a mere mortal to do this, but as the rules prevent me from directly meddling with these things, I am also prevented from outright telling you where anything is."

"So?" Linka responds, "That doesn't mean you can be more vague than… I don't know, a politician trying to win an election!"

"Of course." He responds, before motioning at the golden watch resting next to Linka's computer. "That is why I gave you the matter key. It's designed to detect the extra-dimensional nature of the fragments, allowing you to find them before anyone else can." Then, he chuckles, "Besides, what adventure would it be if I just outright told you where things were huh? If it were a story, it'd probably be complete with ten chapters!" Then he looks away and places his hands behind his back, "There is also the issue of parts with limitless power falling into the wrong hands, but you know the deal with that.

Linka then turns and takes the watch in her hands for a moment, before giving a defeated sigh, "I guess I should use this more often William. Really, I guess I've just been too busy trying to live life here to remember that I have a mission to finish." And with that, she secures the watch to her left wrist.

"Do not worry Ms. Loud. I will continue doing what I have been while you find and locate those parts." Then, he turns around…

Only for Linka to stop him with, "Wait, what have you been doing for the past month?"

The man turns around, "Why, I've been muddling this dimension's signature, causing it to be off-limits to close to ninety percent of the AEU. Anyone brave enough to attempt to access to this place, I've hindered."

"Hindered?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

"I beat them in a game." William chuckles, "Their stupid, 'card yourself if you lose' policy has come in handy, preventing me from getting overrun." Then he sighs, "But I fear that as more Class two, and eventually, Class three hunters begin to come through, I'll be forced to hold back."

"I see…" Linka thinks, _"This is bad. I must've been enjoying the place too much. Now William's getting overrun and it's all my fault! Dangit Linka! You had one job and you blew it!"_

"Though, do not be so hard on yourself." William continues, "So long as you continue the mission and get back to work, everything will be fine." Then, he kneels down and looks her in the eyes, "I need you to continue living this life. You cannot bring any suspicion to yourself and you must not tell anyone else. We cannot risk anyone else finding and attempting to use the fragments."

"Understood." Linka responds.

"Good." William declares, before standing up and turning away. "I shall continue to impede the AEU's attempts to 'cleanse' this dimension of anomalies for the time being, but you must hurry. The more time you waste, the more anomalies will begin to appear."

Linka nods once more, before looking down at the Matter Key Watch. "Ok, I got it."

William nods once more, before disappearing with a soft burst of light.

The young girl sighs, "All right then, I guess this works." Then, she turns and opens her door. And immediately a frantic, "Linka!" resounds through the upstairs hallway.

"And that's my cue. Operation: 'Get brothers ready for school, get us out the door on time, find out where the first MacGuffin Fragment is and come up with a shorter name for the operation' is now in action!" With that, Linka takes a deep breath and steps into the maelstrom.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

Linka, now exhausted from the previous operation, stumbles onto the couch, "Phew, I can't believe I pulled that off." She wipes the sweat from her brow, "Good thing I had to help my sisters get ready for that family project a few months ago."

"Come on Linka!" Loki goes, his voice filling with impatience, "You know how dad feels about letting you walk to school on your own!" And with that, her ten brothers walk into the living room, all wearing their winter jackets.

"Got it!" Linka tiredly jumps to her feet and stretches for a moment, before running over and grabbing her yellow button-down jacket and red bonnet.

And with that, the siblings head out of the home.

"I still can't believe break ended so quickly." Lane quips, "It's almost like good ol' frosty had to take a trip to Wendy's!" Then he, predictably, throws his head back in laughter.

"Meh, I'd have to rate that joke a six outta ten. I get what you were aiming for, but it was still a bad pun." Loki responds, not even bothering to look at his clownish brother.

"Hmm, I'll have to come up with something else then!" Lane then rubs his chin.

A few feet behind, Linka walks along, simply trudging through the cold ice and snow that Mother Nature had left behind, " _Was it a good idea to tell him? He doesn't seem to be taking it too well…"_ The young girl's gaze remains fixed on the sidewalk ahead, _"He promised not to tell anyone the truth, but… What if he is forced to? What if something happens that will put him in danger if he doesn't talk?!"_ She shakes her head, _"No, that's crazy. William would've warned me if he were in danger, right?"_

"Hey Linka." Lynn grabs his sister's shoulder, "You ok? You seem to have something on your mind."

Immediately, the young girl flinches, "Huh, oh. Yeah bro, I'm fine."

Lynn rubs the back of his head, "Ok… I just asked because you look like something's on your mind."

"It's nothing…" Linka's voice trails off worriedly. Yet, instead of responding, Lynn remains quiet and simply looks at his sister.

Linka then takes a deep breath, "Fine, you got me." Then, she looks up into the overcast sky, "I'm just worried that everything's going to suddenly be different. Like some crazed power is just going to turn everything upside down all of a sudden."

"Come on Linka, you know that everything's going to be fine!" Lynn rubs his sister's head with that, causing her relatively clean hair to get a bit messy.

"Yeah, everything's going to be fine…" Linka's voice trails off.

Lynn thinks for a moment, before snapping his fingers, "Oh, I know!" He raises his finger and pokes Linka's arm, "You're worried that you're going to see Ron Andy again!"

Immediately, the young girl's face goes red in embarrassment, "What! No!" She looks away, "I'm just…" Her heart begins to beat faster, "I uhh…"

"Haha sis. I'm just teasin'." Lynn throws his arm around his sister, "Now come on, we're almost there!" He quickly looks around with that, before he whispers, "And remember, if he breaks your heart, we'll kick his ass!"

"Heh, thanks Lynn." Linka grabs hold of her bag's strap, "You guys are the best." Then she looks ahead, and notices two, identical trashcans sitting side-by-side. She closes her eyes and thinks, _"Maybe even better than my sisters…"_

When she opens them again, the two trashcans turn to one. Linka's eyes go wide in shock, _"What the heck?!"_

"What is it Linka?" Lynn responds.

Linka shakes her head and responds, "Nothing, I thought I saw something." While she thinks. _"So I guess that's what he meant by more anomalies starting to pop up."_

A few feet behind them, Leif and Lexx walk together side-by-side, arguing along like they usually do, while Lars and Levi follow them in silence.

Rounding out the line are Luke and Loni, put there to make sure that their younger siblings didn't suddenly drift off.

After a few more minutes of walking, Loki shouts, "All right guys!" Before stopping the line in front of the Royal Woods Elementary School, "This is your stop."

Immediately, Lars responds, "Sigh, another soul wrenching day to waste on our way to oblivion."

"Calm down brother, at least in the meantime, you'll be able to increase your knowledge, before you go on to oblivion of course." Levi responds with a monotone voice.

Leif then speaks, "You sure we have to go Loki?"

The eldest brother nods, "Yes, you all have to go to school, it'll be good for you." While he thinks, _"And it'll keep you out of trouble too… I of all people should know that."_

Lexx pulls out a mirror and checks his face for a second, "I'm excited to see Nala again. Just like I'm sure she's excited to see me!"

"Heh, you're a dork bro. I still don't know what she sees in you." Leif then playfully punches Lexx's arm, "I'll race ya to class!"

"You're on!" Lexx responds and with that, the duo makes a break for the school's entrance.

"Hey!" Lynn shouts, "I'm going to beat you both!" before he too gives chase.

"Sigh. I suppose I should go as well. Another day in the torturous place we call school, another day I can spend writing the story of a kid who has to deal with getting sent to another world." And with that, Lars simply disappears.

Linka grabs hold of her bag's strap, "Ok then, my turn I guess" then she gulps.

"You gonna be all right sis?" Loki asks while affectionately rubbing her messy white hair.

Linka looks up at her older brother, while he continues, "If you want, I could watch you during class again. I doubt anyone will notice I'm missing from class."

 _"That does sound nice…"_ Linka shakes her head, "Nah… I'm just a bit nervous. I feel like I haven't gone to school in like two months or something."

"Haha." Loki softly responds, "Don't worry Linka, everything's going to be all right."

"Linka!" Claudia shouts as she runs over to her best friend.

Loki smiles, "And that's your cue sis. Have fun at school today."

Linka smiles, "Thanks Loki, I'll do my best."

And with that, the young girl runs over and hugs her best friend with, "Hey Claudia! You ready for today?"

The dark-skinned girl shakes her head before, with a whole-hearted smile, shouts, "Nope!" Then she grabs hold of Linka, "Now come on!"

Loki watches the two girls walk into the school. "Heh, I'm glad my sister has her at least. It's good she got over her crush on me… though her relationship with Linka is still in question."

He chuckles, "Oh well, that's a story for another time." Before he turns to his remaining siblings, "Now come on, we have to get to class.

Without another word, the elder Loud Brothers go off to their own classes.

* * *

"Ok class." The teacher, a light-skinned man with red hair and wearing a green sweater, speaks, "Who can tell me who… blah blah blah…"

A few feet away, Linka stares at her watch, hoping for something to happen, " _Nothing yet. I wonder why he told me bring this along if it's not going to go off or tell me anything."_

Then she taps the screen, expecting the device's touchscreen to glow as per the norm… only for nothing to happen. _"Strange…"_

The young girl's heart races in shock, _"Is something wrong? Why isn't it turning on?!"_ She carefully looks up, checking that Mr. Johnson isn't looking in her direction, before she holds down the side nob.

A few second pass, before the touchscreen glows, and displays, "Lisa Loud LLC, Dimensional Watch Type 1."

" _Phew, that was a close one."_ Linka breathes a sigh of relief while the watch loads... only for the device to start buzzing, and display, _**"Warning! Space Waves Detected!"**_

 _"What the…"_ Linka thinks, " _Space waves? What are those?"_ She then taps the screen, causing the watch to respond by moving to an outlined image of the room with an arrow pointing at her teacher.

 _"Well… I guess this is the hint that Bill decided to give me…"_

"Ms. Loud!" Mr. Johnson shouts, his voice filled with annoyance, "What are you doing?!"

Immediately Linka flinches, _"Quick, think of something Linka! You can't let him know about the watch!"_ And so, with a nervous tone, he responds, "I was just umm…" her voice trails off, before she sighs in defeat, "Sorry Mr. Johnson."

"If you don't want to pay attention in my class, how about you tell us who wrote 'Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata'?"

 _"Oh… that's easy."_ Linka thinks before answering, "Ludwig Von Beethoven!"

Immediately the class breaks out in laughter, causing Linka to shrink in her chair a little. Mr. Johnson chuckles and responds, "No Linka, there is no Ludwig Von Beethoven, Erin Von Beethoven wrote their 'Moonlight Sonata'. Please pay attention Ms. Loud, you'll succeed in class better that way." Then he motions toward the watch, "And put that device away please."

"Yes sir." Linka replies, before looking back down at her watch, _"So… there's a part around here I guess… but what does my teacher have to do with it?"_ Then she sighs, _"This must just be on the fritz again…"_ And with that she shoves it in her bag.

* * *

*Ring!* The bell goes, signaling the end to the first class of the day.

Linka calmly walks out of the class with that, _"I guess the only way to figure out where the fragment is, is to start searching the school…"_ The young girl takes her watch out and secures it to her wrist once more. _"But what was he talking about when he mentioned, 'a room of secrets'?"_

"Hey Linka!" Claudia greets, "Wait up!"

Immediately, Linka flinches, "Huh, oh, hi Claudia."

"You seemed to be in a rush to get out of there." Claudia takes a moment to catch her breath, "You seemed off your game today, what's going on with you today?"

" _Should I tell her?"_ Linka hesitates, _"She could help me search and be a great help… No."_ Linka sighs, _"How would she react to finding out that the best friend she has a crush on is dating her as a guy… as me. It'll be better if I don't say anything."_

And so she speaks, "Nothing Claudia, I just didn't get that much sleep last night. You know, those slapping sounds go on for about an hour before it finally gets quiet enough to sleep again."

Claudia's face goes slightly red for a moment, "Oh… I see." Then she rubs the back of her head in embarrassment, "So uhh… How about I uhh…"

"How about you tell me about your vacation? After all, you seemed excited to tell me and stuff." Linka cuts her off, though given the awkward circumstances, Claudia thinks it's for the better.

Claudia then perks up, "Really?! You wanna hear?!"

Linka nods, "Yeah, let's walk and talk." Before turning and walking forward. _"Yeah, and while you talk, I'll probably be able to figure out where the room of secrets is."_

"Well then," Claudia looks up and rubs her chin, before snapping her fingers, "I know! Let me tell you about these crazy cosplayers! There were so many of them, I thought that there was a convention or something!"

Linka smiles, "How so girl?"

Claudia then begins to skip around her friend, "Like, I saw this guy dressed up in a black cat suit and a girl dressed up as a ladybug! She had a yoyo and it was so cool!"

"Sounds awesome!" Linka happily responds.

"That's not even the half of it!" Claudia continues, "This other set of cosplayers rode passed me with scooters and bikes shouting that they had to go save the world or something by defeating some rouge virus thing! One of them had pink hair too!"

"Heh, sounds like a TV show from two thousand and three." Linka then looks ahead, causing her eyes to fall upon a brown door labeled, "Teacher's Lounge."

"You know, I've always wondered what's in the teacher's Lounge, Linka." Claudia suddenly goes, her voice filling with nostalgia, "But hey, unless I win a contest or something, I highly doubt I'll ever be allowed to see the inside of it."

Immediately, an idea comes to Linka, _"Wait… that's it! The teacher's lounge! That has to be the room of secrets!"_ The young girl's heart races as she raises her watch and aims it at the door. A few seconds pass before the screen flashes, _**"High amounts of space waves detected!"**_

" _Jackpot."_ Linka thinks, while Claudia continues to babble on, not noticing her friend's lack of attention, _"Now I just have to figure out how to get inside…"_

"So Linka, are you worried about anything this year?" Claudia asks, breaking Linka's concentration.

"Huh? Oh, nah, I think everything's going to be all right." Linka answers, while she thinks, _"Yeah, if reality doesn't fall apart of course."_ Before asking, "How about you? Are you afraid of anything?"

Claudia sighs, before responding with a downtrodden voice, "I'm afraid that people are going to think we're lesbian lovers again… and then try to bully us over it…"

Linka chuckles, "You don't have to worry about that much." The young Loud glances back and notices a familiar group of boys peeking over the corner. "My brothers are watching out for us, so if anyone tries to beat us up or something, they'll come in and help."

The dark-skinned girl smiles, "Thanks Linka."

Linka smiles in response, "No problem, after all, you are my best friend!" Then she looks ahead, "So care to tell me more about your trip? It sounded like you had a ton of fun!"

"It was amazing!" Claudia throws her arms up in excitement, "We got to see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre!" Then she rubs the back of her head, "I even ended up getting some cool dating advice from three girls dressed up like super spies!"

Linka smiles and turns to her, "That sounds awesome. You sure there wasn't an anime convention or something?"

Claudia does the same and shrugs, "Don't know, but after I told them about a weird dream I had, they told me to…" Her voice trails off nervously.

"Weird dream huh? Care to-" Linka starts… only to run right into another girl.

Immediately, the white-haired girl lands on her butt.

"Oh, sorry." The opposing girl says, "I wasn't paying attention." She has black hair, brownish skin and a green button-down shirt with a white undershirt.

"It's fine." Linka takes her hand, "I'm Linka."

"I'm Bebe." She responds.

 _"What?!"_ Linka smiles, "Nice to meet you!" And with that, she turns to Claudia.

Claudia shrugs, and Linka turns back… only to find that the girl was gone. "What the heck?"

"Huh? Where'd she go?" Claudia tilts her head in confusion.

"Don't know…" Linka responds, "I guess she just went on her way."

"I hope I get to see her soon… she was cute."

Immediately Linka turns to Claudia, "Seriously? You didn't even meet her!"

"I'm just joking!" Claudia nervously responds, before whispering, "No I'm not."

Linka simply chuckles, "Alright, alright, how about you tell me about that dream you had then? It sounds like it was pretty important if you needed advice for dealing with it."

Claudia nervously rubs the back of her head, "Well…" She takes a deep breath, "I'm not sure if I should. After all, it's been like a week and I…"

Linka playfully nudges her friend, "Come on, it can't be that bad! Plus, if you remembered it, it had to be important somehow!" While she thinks, _"Yeah, and maybe it can help explain why a young Bebe suddenly appeared and disappeared… maybe she was an anomaly or something too."_

"Well… ok then…" Claudia taps her fingers together, "In the dream we were walking together and… well you were a guy, and we were having a great time and I was so happy…"

"Heh, still got a crush on me huh?" Linka chuckles.

"…Maybe…" Claudia responds.

"You know that I'm not interested in you romantically, you're my best friend and I'd rather not try to date you."

"I know, I know…" Claudia responds sadly.

"But don't worry." Linka places a comforting hand on her shoulder, "If we find that girl again, I'll be sure to make sure you can get a date with her ok?"

"Thanks Linka." Claudia smiles.

Linka responds, "Though, I do find it flattering to know that my best friend has the hots for me. After all, I don't know too many guys who would be interested in me."While she thinks, _"Plus, I'm not even sure why I like guys here. It's just strange… After all, the real Linka likes guys back home!"_

Then Claudia pulls Linka into a warm hug, "You're the best friend a girl can have!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Linka responds, before noticing a peculiar sight- a nearby water fountain was upside down. _"What the heck?"_ Then she closes her eyes for a moment, before opening them again. The time, it was back to normal, _"Anomalies…"_

*Ring!* The bell goes once more, causing the two girls to break up their hug.

"I guess it's time to get to class." Linka quips, before walking ahead. Claudia responds, "Yep! Come on, we don't want to miss Ms. DiMartino's class!"

Immediately, Linka's face goes red, _"Wait… Ms. DiMartino isn't gender-swapped?! Crud…"_

 _ **One class period later…**_

" _Welp, that was horrible."_ Linka thinks as she steps out of the class, _"For some reason, I ended up going bonkers over her anyway… man is my head messed up"_

Claudia then walks up behind her, "You ok Linka? You seemed to go bonkers over that dreamy teacher." The dark-skinned girl's knees shake, before she shakes her head, "Every boy in the class has a crush on her… but I didn't know you did too!"

Linka shrugs, "I guess she was just extra hot today." Before walking over to her locker and opening it, "After all, a girl who's that popular has got to be doing something right!"

"Good point." Claudia responds, before opening her own, "Oh the things I'd love to do…"

"Heh, just remember, you're only eleven Claudia. At least wait a bit before you try to date someone ok?"

"Heh, no promises Linka." She responds, "After all I-"

"Hey look! It's the lesbian lovers!" a familiar voice calls out, "Are you gonna smooch for us?!"

Immediately, the two girls turn to face the source, Chandler with two of her 'friends' by her side stands before them. "I think it's cute that your love hasn't gone away over break! Haha!"

"Linka… I think we should leave." Claudia whispers, while grabbing the white-haired girl's hand, "We don't need to cause any trouble."

"Oh yeah Chandler! Well I-" Linka starts, yet finds herself unable to finish. Almost as if some force is urging her to stop. _"Why is my body fighting the urge to counter?"_ Linka grits her teeth. "Fine Claudia. Let's get out of here."

"Oh?" Chandler responds, "Not going to do your usual tough girl act?" She holds her stomach and laughs, "Haha! You really are a weakling!"

Then the rich girl throws her head back in laughter, "Oh, and by the way. Your clothes are ugly!"

Immediately, Linka starts to tear up, _"What the heck is going on?! They're just clothes! I have ten pairs of them because they were cheaper to buy in bulk, why did that insult hurt so much?!"_

Yet, she doesn't back down yet, "Well, you're a… a..." Then, Linka's tear-filled eyes fill with determination, "A rich red head with no friends and people only hang out with you because they're afraid that you'll have something terrible done to them!"

Chandler takes a shocked deep breath, before she slaps Linka across the face, "You take that back!"

" _That's a first…"_ Linka thinks, before throwing a slap as well.

The rich girl growls for a moment, before taking a deep breath, "Haha, that was weak!" Then she throws her head back in laughter, "Haha! No wonder your pathetic brothers choose to protect you all the time! Without them-"

"Without them what?" Lynn steps in, cutting her off.

Chandler responds by putting her hands on her hips and putting on her own tough girl act, "Oh look, it's another one of you. Haha! What are you gonna do? Multiply like a virus?!"

Lexx steps forward from behind, "We're going to stick up for our sister of course!" Leif comes to his side and continues, "So leave her and Claudia alone right now!"

"Haha!" Chandler simply throws her head back in laughter, "You really-"

"Chandler, knock it off." Another boy steps forward, "You really have to stop trying to bully Linka, she didn't do anything to you to deserve it."

"Oh, uhh Ron Andy…" Chandler's voice goes quiet in shock, "What are you doing here?"

Ron steps over to Linka and motions for the white-haired girl to put her arm around his, and she complies. "I'm supposed to be going to class and I just so happened to find you making fun of my friend. Care to tell me why? After all, I know Linka and Claudia haven't done anything to deserve it."

"Oh really Ron?" Chandler raises her eyebrows in shock, "You really expect me to believe that you've decided to get into a relationship with this…" She motions at Linka, "This pathetic girly girl with lesbian tendencies?!"

"Yes, yes I do." Ron Andy flatly responds, "What do you want me to do? Prove it?"

"Yeah!" Chandler looks away and crosses her arms stubbornly, "I want you to prove that you-"

But, before she can finish, Linka grabs Ron Andy's arm, turns him to face her and lays a kiss on his lips. The boy's eyes go wide in shock for a moment, before letting Linka's heat envelop him.

"Hey! He's-" Chandler starts… only to slap herself…for some reason.

"You two are aware of the school's policy on PDA right?" Suddenly, Mr. Johnson appears in front of the two students.

Immediately, Linka and Ron Andy jump apart in shock.

" _Where the heck did he come from?!"_ Linka thinks, _"I'm pretty sure that he didn't just come out of nowhere!"_

The grown man continues, "I know you two are young and in love and stuff and your hormones are all out of whack, but you can't show that here, got that you two?"

Immediately, the boy and girl nod frantically and he continues, "Good, I'll let you two off with a warning for now, but you've got to make sure that it doesn't happen again, got it?" Then, he looks at the other students, "Now all of you, get back to what you were doing, got that?"

The rest of students don't hesitate to head off to wherever they are supposed to be.

And with that, he walks away, leaving the students present in shock.

A wave of silence falls upon the remaining students, with none of them sure about how to react.

Yet, eventually Chandler grits her teeth and speaks, "So that's how it is huh? Humph!" She scoffs, before turning and crossing her arms, "Fine then, no matter. If you want to have that poor excuse for an interesting girl, be my guest Ron. Come on girls, I'm out of here."

And with that, Chandler walks away, followed by the two girls that she probably pays to follow her around.

Linka then turns to Ron Andy with a blush, "Thanks for your help Ron…"

Ron Andy simply nods, "No problem Linka, you know I don't mind helping you out with these types of things."

"We could've handled it though!" Lynn cuts in, "We're her brothers after all! It's our job to look out for her!"

Linka looks away in embarrassment, "I'm sorry that I keep relying on you guys… I guess I just wish I could fight my own battles more…" while she thinks, " _Get a hold of yourself Lincoln! Though… now that I think of it, I really haven't fought my battles in a long time… What the heck is going on?"_

"It's no problem." Ron Andy responds, while the present brothers simply nod in agreement.

"Now, how about we get to class? We don't want to be late now do we?"

Linka smiles in response, "Sure Ron, I'd like that." And then, arm-in-arm, they walk away… while the brothers look on.

"If he breaks her heart, we can bury him right?" Lars flatly asks.

"Oh big time." Leif responds, with both him and Lynn taking out shovels as he does so.

"But we make sure he dies first, right?" Lexx asks.

Upon hearing that, Lynn hides his shovel and looks around. "R-Right! Definitely!" he lies. "We weren't implying we were going to bury him alive or anything!"

And with that, the Loud Brothers part ways as well.

"Huh, well that was… strange." Claudia quips, "What do you think Cris?"

The boy's eyes go wide, as he remembers, "Oh… oh no…"

"What is it Cristopher?" Claudia turns to the boy.

"I-I just remembered seeing a story in which Linka's brother Levi accidently killed everyone both himself and his brothers… and they had to repopulate the world by 'breeding' with Linka!"

Claudia stares at Ron for a moment, before shaking her head and responding, "I've always wondered if you were high or something… are you on any meds bro?"

"No… I've just seen the Internet… and what I've seen people make and do is really messed up."

"Come on, it couldn't be that bad!" Claudia responds, yet Cristopher continues to shiver in fear.

"I don't even know how or why I keep finding those things… I just type in a link and sometimes I end up getting redirected… I don't know who keeps causing this. All I know is, the Internet is messed up!"

Claudia grabs Cristopher and shakes him, "Get a hold of yourself man! Our friends literally just walked away!"

But it's no use, the boy continues to shiver and stammer on in fear.

"Ugh fine." Claudia goes, before pulling the boy close and laying a kiss on his lips as well.

After a few moments, she breaks it with, "Happy?"

"I... I guess?" Cristopher's eyes go wide in shock. "Why did you, I thought you were-"

"Don't ask, let's just get a move on."

And with that, the remaining students head off to their next class for the day.

The rest of their school day is uneventful. With the students attending classes, eating lunch and getting assigned random text to study, before being sent home for the day.

 _ **Later…**_

Linka steps into her room and drops her bag on the floor and throws herself on her bed, "So… I guess that wasn't too bad for a school day. At least I didn't have gym or else I don't know what would happen!"

And with that she checks her golden watch, "So, the first fragment has been detected. It's in the school faculty lounge. That's just great." She tiredly turns toward the wall, _"Well, at least it could be worse… but I have to find a way to get inside."_

Then she sighs, _"Well, let's see if I can get anything out of him…"_ before she shouts, " Hey William, I need you!"

"You called?" a familiar man appears.

"I think I've found the location of the first fragment, is there anything you can tell me about it before I got and try to get it?"

"Haha! You're funny Ms. Loud!" He adjusts his top hat, "All I can tell you is that the first fragment is able to bend space."

Linka nods, "I see. Anything else?"

Cryptos shakes his head, "I would tell you more, but where's the fun in that?"

"Of course." Linka sighs, before William disappears as abruptly as he appeared.

"Well, at least wasn't so bad. May have found the location a fragment, kissed Ron…" Her heart begins to heat up with that. "And my brothers standing up for me was awesome… though why do I feel so strange? Before I would've easily countered Chandler's bullying, after all, I used to live with ten judgmental sisters!" Then she looks out her window, before moving her gaze and looking at herself in the mirror, "And now… I actually started to cry at being told my clothes were ugly…"

She rolls on her back, "I guess spending too much time in this body isn't healthy after all… I just wonder what crazy thing is going to happen next… More anomalies are popping up while there's a hunter out there that looks like Luna, but calls herself Nyla… and then there's the issue of Lexx's girlfriend."

"There's nothing much I can do about it now." Linka sighs in defeat, "The best I can do is make sure everything works out in the end." And with that, she stands up, "So how about I do something I haven't done?" and with that, she walks out of her room.

9 3-1-14-'20 20-5-12-12 1-14-25-13-15-18-5. 9-19 3-12-1-21-4-9-1 7-1-25 15-18 19-20-18-1-9-7-8-20?!

 **A/N So how was that guys? I hope you enjoyed the chapter! This took like 4 rewrites and so much deletion to get right, but hey, I wouldn't send something out that I'm not sure of! As always, feel free to send prompts you'd like to see done!**

 **Also, what should I do to** **commemorate over 20,000 views?**


	15. A Game Of Hide And Seek

**A/N Hey guys, Omega's back and ready to tell the next story! As always, I hope you enjoy! This is another long one, and there's a reason for that. I thought of dividing it in half, but then I realized that this was only about 40% longer than usual, so I saw no point. I hope you guys enjoy!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Linka decides to spend some quality time with her younger brother, Lars and Lars' Revelation. (Planned)**_

Story Fifteen: A Game Of Hide And Seek

" _Ok Linka, let's do this."_ The young girl whispers, _"You haven't spent quality time with your spooky sibling since that dream book session a few months ago. Even then, he's just as overprotective and helpful as my other brothers… right? Everything's going to be just fine."_

Then, she takes a deep breath. Her heart races in anticipation for what is to come next.

She raises her hand and knocks on the center door. _"Come on, I need to get the first fragment."_

Then, the *click* and with that, the door opens, revealing a slightly older boy with brown hair. "Hey Linka, what brings you here so late?"

Linka chuckles, "Lynn, it's only five o'clock, it's not that late."

Lynn shrugs, "Yeah, but it's usually around this time we start doin' homework and get our stuff in order before… everything goes down the tubes. Plus, it's already dark outside" Then he smiles, "So, you need anything sis?"

"Well…" Linka looks away nervously, "I came here because I wanna talk to Lars for a bit. I need his help with something."

Immediately, the Gothic boy appears behind Lynn and greets, "Yes Linka?"

"G'ahh!" Lynn goes in shock, before jumping right into Linka's arms.

"Lynn! You're too heavy!" Linka groans, stumbles back, then forward, before she drops Lynn and pants in exhaustion.

"Haha." Lars quips, "So, do you need me for something?"

Linka takes a second to catch her breath, before nodding, "Yeah, would you mind talking with me in my room? It's about something really important and I really need your help with it."

"Ok." Lars responds, "Let me just get some papers set up. I'll see you in your room in… ten minutes good for you?"

"Yep!" Linka cheerfully responds, before turning and running back into her own room.

"Sigh." Lars goes, before turning and getting back in his coffin bed. He wastes no time pulling out his clipboard and pen and getting back to writing. For a moment, the boy holds his pen at the ready, before looking down and going, "Groan."

"What's wrong bro?" Lynn steps over and takes a quick glance at the blank pieces of loose-leaf paper Lars holds. "You usually manage to get at least a page done before this time of day."

Lars looks at Lynn with uncertain eyes. "I've just had a ton of writer's block lately. I have about seven projects active currently: three active, one on hiatus and three in progress. I don't know what to do."

"So why don't you go outside and do something other than write? I mean, for the past how many days, all you did was stay inside and write until you fell asleep at your clipboard." Lynn's voice fills with concern, "I know you prefer to stay online all the time, but doing nothing but writing isn't healthy."

"I can stop whenever I want!" Lars responds, his voice filling with annoyance, "I write because I like story telling, and the people I meet love my stories too!" While the Gothic boy thinks, _"Plus, the people online care a lot about me! They're my friends!"_

Lynn sighs, "Just… be careful ok Lars? You need to take a break. Maybe spending some quality time with Linka sooner rather than later is a good idea…"

"Sigh." Lars responds, before turning and getting out of his bed, "Fine. I'll try to make the most of what Linka is asking me to do. Will that make you happy?"

"Yeah bro, it will." The ballerina boy then grabs Lars' clipboard and paper.

"Hey!" Lars goes in annoyance and shock, only for Lynn to respond, "I'll hold onto these for good measure, now, go help your sister out with whatever she needs, ok?"

"Sigh. Ok." The Goth boy then jumps to his feet and steps out the door.

He slowly makes his way over to the linen closet end of the hallway and then whispers, "Sigh, here I go." Before knocking on Linka's bedroom door.

Immediately, the young girl opens up and motions for him to come inside with, "Hey Lars, come on in!"

"Sigh." Lars responds, before slowly stepping inside, "Why'd you call me over sis? You never want to spend too much time with me after all…"

" _Man… Linka really hasn't done much to help her brothers huh?"_ Linka thinks, before rubbing the back of her head and looking away, "Well… I need your help getting something back."

Lars raises an eyebrow in response, "Oh? And what would that be? Wouldn't someone like Loki be more useful in the situation? After all, he's stronger and has some connections. I'm sure he could-"

The girl then grabs the boy's hand; "I need your help, because I only trust you with this." While she thinks, _"If he's anything like Lucy… If I remember her right… he should be able to sneak in and out of the school with ease."_

"Seriously Linka?" Lars responds, "Sigh, can you at least tell me what's going on? You know, so I don't get any surprises."

" _Man, what is with Lars?"_ Linka then sighs, "A teacher took something really important to me and left in the teacher's lounge. I need to get it back before Ron Andy finds out!" She throws her arms up in emphasis.

"Hmm…" Lars responds, "I don't know… I haven't snuck in and out of the school in a while. Plus, I really need to get a start on the stories I'm working on. I've finished the first draft to a story I call "Dipper's Secret" and I'm-"

Linka grabs Lars by the shoulders and looks at him with pleading eyes. "Please Lars, this is really important to me!"

"Sigh…" Lars responds, "Fine, I'll help you out." Then he shrugs, "After all, I guess spending time helpin' my sister out could give me some good inspiration and stuff…"

Linka smiles, before throwing her arms around her younger brother, "Thank you Lars! You're the best!"

Lars then goes, "Sigh, ok…" Before he breaks the hug, "Is anyone else coming with us? I have some old equipment that we can use to get inside, but it'd help a lot if I knew how many people we could rely on."

"Hmm…" The girl thinks for a moment, "I think I can convince Luke to go with us. After all, he isn't too busy tonight probably!"

"Ok." Lars goes, "How about you ask him, convince him to go with us, and then ask dad if we can go out. After all, it's going to be dark when we head out."

"Thanks." Linka goes once more, before hugging her young sibling again, "You're the best Lars."

"Sigh." Lars responds, "You're welcome Linka." And with that, he steps out of the room.

The girl takes a deep breath, before following and walking over to her musical brother's room. Just like before, she knocks twice and waits.

This time, Lane answers the door and greets, "Hey Linka!" Before he puts a huge grin on, "Why'd you knock twice?"

Linka tilts her head in confusion, "Uhh, cause I wanted to call you over?"

Lane chuckles, "No! Because if you knocked once then it wouldn't be a **period!"**

"That was a horrible pun, Lane." Linka quips, "If you're were trying to make a period pun, that was a miss."

Immediately, the prankster throws his head back in laughter, "There ya go Linka! I knew you'd warm up to my puns eventually!"

" _Umm no… that was just so bad that even I can't feel offended by it."_ Linka thinks in response.

"So," Lane goes, wiping a joyful tear from his eye, "what brings you here? Because I incest you stay!"

" _Eww. I've seen too many alternate dimensions like that thanks to GLaDOS."_ Linka pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration, "I just wanted to ask Luke if he wanted to go out with Lars and I." Linka answers, causing Luke to perk up.

"Yo Luke!" Lane starts, only for Luke to walk over, push him aside and ask, "Yeah Linka?"

The girl nervously rubs the back of her head with that, "Would you mind going with Lars an I? We want to go outside for a 'walk' but I don't think dad will let us go without you or Loki."

For a moment, Luke hesitates, as if preparing to deny her request, yet even if the girl in front of him isn't really his sister, he can't simply say no to those eyes, "Ok Link… I'll go with you. Just ask dad and we'll go when you're ready."

Linka then throws her arms around the boy, "Thanks Luke! You're the best!"

"Yeah, yeah." Luke responds. And with that, Linka runs downstairs.

Luke sighs in defeat, _"Well, I guess a walk could work… who knows, maybe something good will come out from spending time… with an imposter and my brother._ " Then, he steps out of the room and walks over to Levi and Leon's.

"Hey Levi, how are the goggles doin'?" He asks, his voice filled with a defeated tone.

Levi sits at his computer, his face filled with frustration, "I'm not sure brother, I've finished the basis and made the fuel for them, but I have been unable to find a part capable of handling the enormous strain of inter-dimensional messaging." Then he scrolls over to a small, microphone-like device, "It doesn't help that it'll also have to be resistant to the numerous anomalies."

"Oh…" Luke goes, "So those aren't going to be done for a while huh?"

Levi nods, "Yeah, unless you're able to find me such a part, these will never be done."

"Dangit." He thinks, "Well, I guess I should get to looking…"

"By the way." Levi continues, "How's our sister doing with her you-know-what issue?"

Luke shrugs, "I think she's growing out of it, but she's been enjoying spending more time with us, you know, not over doing it with the protectiveness."

"I see, ok then." Then, the young boy returns to his computer.

And with that, the young man turns and walks out of the room, his heart racing in anticipation for what was to come.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Please daddy." Linka begs, "I really want to go out for a walk with them, we'll be safe, I promise!"

Lynn Sr. looks at his daughter with concerned eyes, before sighing, "Fine, I'll let you go out with them."

"Thanks dad!" Linka shouts, throwing her arms around her father as she does so.

"But stay safe! You know how I feel about you going out at night!" Lynn Sr. adds, "You never know what could happen in the dark!"

The girl nods, "Got it dad, I'll be safe, I promise!" And with that, she turns and runs up the stairs.

"Have fun sweetie." Lynn Sr. goes _, "Linka's really feelin' better… Haha, I guess she's finally gotten passed the incident."_ before returning to his newspaper and giving a soft smile.

* * *

A few moments later, Linka rushes into her bedroom, grabs her pink backpack, throws a flashlight, the strange device and Trevor's card inside, before she goes and secures the dimensional watch to her wrist. Her heart races in anticipation, _"Let's go get the first fragment!"_

And with that, she rushes out of her room and over to her waiting brothers.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

The trio arrives at the school under the cover of darkness. The moon now glows over them, with the only sources of light being their flashlights and the stars above. Despite it being the dead of winter in Michigan, none of the Louds need to wear anything more than some thin-jackets over their short-sleeved shirts.

"So, why are we here?" Luke asks, as he looks up at the small vent.

"I need to get something from the teacher's lounge and this is the best way to get it." Linka responds, "Plus, dad wouldn't let us go without one of you around so…" She rubs the back of her head and puts a sheepish smile on.

*Sigh* The elder boy goes, "Ok then, so what do you two need me to do anyways?"

Lars then swings a grappling hook and throws it at the open vent. It latches on, and with two more pulls, is secured, "Luke, I need you to act as look out. It's unlikely, but if someone comes by, we need you to hold them at bay."

Luke pinches his nose in annoyance, "So… you dragged me out here in the middle of the night to act as lookout? Why?"

"Yes." Linka responds.

Then Lars answers, "We'd have you come with us, but you won't fit in the vent."

The young man then sighs, "Fine, I'll just stay here then. Just try not to get into any trouble."

The two kids nod in response, before grabbing hold of the rope and climbing up. A few moments after that, they disappear into the vent, leaving Luke on his own.

" _The things I do for my siblings."_ Luke thinks, before sighing and sitting down at the base of the rope.

With nothing else to do, he pulls out his acoustic guitar and begins to strum, "The clock stopped tickin' forever ago. How long have I been out, I don't know? I can't get a grip, but I can't let go, there wasn't anything to hold onto though…"

The young man begins to tear up, "Dangit Linka… what happened to you? Why don't you wanna come home? Why is this version of you so keen on leaving?" He strums again, "Where are you now? Was it all a fantasy… were you just imaginary?"

"Under the sea, where now?" A feminine voice continues, "I'm faded. I'm so lost, I'm faded."

"Huh?" Luke jumps up and flips his guitar up. He holds it by the neck as if prepared to swing, "Who goes there?!"

"Calm down." Nyla steps into view, her strange device oriented like a hardlight guitar.

Luke responds by lowering his guitar, "Oh, hi there… Nyla was it? How've you been?"

Nyla strums her hardlight guitar with, "I've been fine Luke."

"You're not going to turn me into a card are you? Cause I'm going to put up a fight if you try." Luke immediately continues, his voice regaining its defensive hold.

"Don't worry Luke." Nyla chuckles and strums, "I just came here cause I saw you round and well…" The young woman blushes, "I wanted to see you again…"

"Oh really?" The young man raises an eyebrow in shock.

"Yeah…" Her voice trails off, "Since I've got nothing better to do, I've just been in this dimension sealing off less dangerous anomalies. I'd go for larger prey but… the only class 1.5 and higher anomalies I could seal well… remind me of my siblings."

"Oh…" Luke strums his guitar, "Well ok then." Then he takes a seat by the rope once more, "Then how about we just talk then, since you don't wanna turn me into a card right now."

Nyla rubs the back of her head awkwardly, "Sure Luke, I'd like that…" before she takes a seat next to him and strums her guitar.

"So what songs do you know?" Luke asks and Nyla hesitates for a moment, "Probably the same ones you know."

"Oh, and why's that Nyla?" Luke strums once more, yet before Nyla can explain he goes, "You know what, how about you tell me while we play, ok?"

Nyla shrugs, "All right then." And with that, the two musicians get to work on their duet.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

In a dark room, a vent cover comes off and falls to the floor. A few moments after that, Linka and Lars crawl through and land in the faculty lounge.

"Okay Lars, we're here." Linka goes, as she dusts herself off.

Lars looks around for a moment, "Ok, well, I guess we should get looking. After all, even though this place is locked up for the most part, it's a good idea to take as little time as possible to find... Whatever we're looking for."

Linka nods in agreement, "Understood." Then, she aims her Matter Key watch in random directions, _"Come on, where are you?"_

"Do you even know what you're looking for? It would help immensely if you gave me a hint at what to find." Lars goes, before turning on his flashlight, dimly illuminating the small room.

"Yeah, it's umm…" Linka thinks, " _What did the matter key look like… when William gave it to me?"_ Then she speaks, "I'm looking for something gold and metal with black highlights. Kind of like a rebellious punk rocker, but less pretentious, and an object."

Lars tilts his head in confusion, "You sure Linka? I mean, that sounds like you're trying to steal something valuable. Like a reader's time."

"Don't worry, Lars." Linka assures, "I've got nothing to hide, I just want to get my stuff back and then we can be out of here, ok?" then she turns to him with pleading eyes, "I can't let Ron Andy know that I lost his gift!"

Lars tilts his head in confusion for a moment, before he shrugs, "All right then sis… I'll help you out…" And with that, he shines his flashlight in a random corner of the room, hoping for something to start glowing.

The girl on the other hand looks around using her matter key watch. Her heart races in anticipation, hoping to find the fragment that she had waited so to find, the first part of the device that would bring her home. " _This is hopeless, but this has to be the room of secrets!"_

The watch continues to flash: _**"Space Waves Detected!"**_ as she moves and yet, nothing comes of the warning. It is as if the watch itself is unsure from which direction the waves are coming from. _"Come on… work you stupid thing!"_

Then, suddenly, the watch starts to beep, and the text on the device begins to flash wildly. Linka steps forward and shines her light in the direction… of a coffee maker.

"Is that what you're looking for?" Lars asks, appearing by her side suddenly.

Yet, Linka doesn't allow the sudden movement to startle her, "Yeah, I think so" Then she steps closer, "But this is just a coffee maker, isn't it?"

Then, she touches it.

Nothing.

Then, she touches it again.

Still nothing.

Then she tries moving it.

And nothing happens!

"Linka, what the heck are you trying to do?" Lars asks, his voice filling with annoyance.

"This thing must be on the fritz…" Linka goes, her heart sinking in disappointment.

"Sigh, I knew this would be a waste of valuable writing time." Lars complains, before shining his flashlight in a random direction once more.

"Sorry…" Linka meekly goes, "I'm sorry I wasted your time…"

"It's…" Lars starts, "What the heck?" he then motions at a nearby power outlet, "What the heck is that?"

And with that, the duo shines their flashlights on the power outlet, illuminating a small, silver disk with a golden plate protecting it, as well as a small, black, emitter-like device in its center… with the coffee maker's plug jammed into its core.

"Is that what we're looking for Linka?" Lars asks, before pulling the coffee maker from the hole.

" _That has to be it!"_ Linka nods, "Yeah bro."

"Be careful… it looks like its attached to the wall." Lars goes, "You never know what can go wrong."

Yet, the girl doesn't back down. She steps closer and takes hold of the device, before pulling it from its resting place, "A ha! We-"

"Hehe!" A high-pitched voice laughs.

Without warning, the device floats out of Linka's hands and glows with orange light for a moment, before projecting an orange silhouette of the girl. The new figure spasms and glitches randomly, almost as if it is nothing more than a buggy computer program.

Lars looks on in shock, "Uhh, Linka, what's going on?"

Linka steps back in confusion, unsure of how to answer her brother, "Uhh… I don't know…"

"D-Do you w-w-w-wanna-anna play a g-g-game?" The orange figure asks, her voice sounding like a distorted version of Linka's.

Linka fearfully nods, "Sure…"

Then, the fragment splits into three parts that orbit the figure. "Ok the-then, h-how-ow abo-bobo-bout, hide and shriek-seek!" And with that, the figure floats up, before forcing the parts away, causing them to disappear through the walls.

"What the, where'd they go?!" Linka desperately shouts.

The young figure chuckles, before breaking out into maniacal laughter, "D-Don't worry, t-they're still on-on-on sch-chool grou-ounds, one's in-Hell- fire, one's near-drowning-water, and one's in the-lifeless-ai-ir! You be-be-better fi-find them if you w-w-want-to live-the fragment, hehe-haha-heha-hahe-haha!"

And with that, the being disappears.

"Linka, what the heck is going on?" Lars asks, his monotone voice unchanging.

Linka turns to Lars and responds, "We're playing a game of hide and go seek for the parts of a fragment." The girl thinks for a moment, " _The question is, where did they end up?"_

Lars then speaks up, "Uhh, what's going on Linka?!"

Yet, his sister doesn't answer, "Hmm, well the first is by fire…" She stammers, before snapping her fingers in realization, "How about the boiler room? That makes sense, right?"

"Linka!" Lars goes, grabbing his sister in annoyance, "Answer me!"

But the girl is too engrossed by thought to answer and ends up dragging him along as she paces.

"Ok, the second is by water." The girl whispers, "Hmm, I guess we could try the only working water fountain in the school." Then she continues, "As for the one in the air…"

Lars then looks down in defeat, "Sigh, I'd say that one is either in the air vents or on the roof." He looks away, "if it's the first one, then we won't find it tonight probably."

"Too many vents?" Linka asks and Lars nods. A distraught look overtakes the girl's face with that.

"Don't worry." Lars goes, placing his hand on his sister's shoulder, "We'll find what you're looking for."

"Really?" Linka asks, her voice filling with hope.

Lars nods, "Yeah, plus, I'm feeling inspired already. When I get home, I might add this to my own story. Also, care to flippin' explain what's going on?!"

"Later Lars. I'll explain everything later." Linka smiles and grabs the boy, "Now, let's go." And with that, the girl runs off into the school.

"Dangit Linka!" The boy grits his teeth, and follows her. "You have so much explaining to do!"

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Haha!" Luke goes, "You really did that with your ten bros?!"

Nyla nods, before continuing to strum away at her guitar, "Yeah!" Then she looks up at the stars above, "Being the only girl out of ten boy has its perks."

Luke's smile turns to a soft frown, "Yeah… it does…"

"What's wrong?" the girl's voice fills with a soft concern.

"Oh, it's nothing." Luke hastily responds, "Just… I'm worried about my sister."

"Who? Linka?" Nyla asks, tilting her head in confusion.

"Yeah." Luke responds, "You see… that girl who I've been with isn't really Linka. It's her male counterpart from another reality in her body."

"That… makes no sense…" Nyla goes, before sighing, "But I guess that would explain why she's registered as a class two anomaly."

Luke raises an eyebrow, "Wait, she's registered in something?"

Nyla nods, before releasing her device from the hard-light guitar, "You see this? This is a standard issue Holo-Disk." She then places it on her wrist, causing a metal cuff to come out and attach the device to her arm. "With it, us Anomaly Hunters can do our jobs."

Then she taps at the device's screen for a moment, causing a small map of the area to appear, "From here, we can manage missions, seal anomalies and report into base."

"That reminds me, I've heard a ton about sealing anomalies, what does that do?" Luke leans closer to the girl, causing Nyla to blush, "Well uhh, we seal them in cards to slow down or prevent dimensional collapse." Then she aims he device at a nearby bunny, "For example, that white bunny there doesn't belong, it's an anomaly." Then she taps at the screen for a moment, causing a light purple light to come from the Holo-Disk.

When it dies down, Nyla is holding a metal card decorated with a small bunny in hand. "It may not fix anomalies, but it prevents them from harming dimensions."

"Oh…" Luke goes, unsure of how to respond, "So uhh, why are you here anyway?"

Nyla sighs, "After you and your 'sister' beat me in that game a few weeks ago, command called me in."

"Yeah?" Luke goes, "So what?"

"Because I lost…" Nyla goes, looking away in shame, "They ordered me to card myself, stating that the loss caused me to become anomalous in nature." Then she looks at Luke and blushes once more, "But for some reason I just couldn't do it." So I opened a portal and got the heck out of there before they could send someone after me."

Luke goes, "Oh…"

Nyla continues, "Yeah, after that, I got a message declaring me disavowed. And warning that I have to card myself or face a punishment worse than death."

"Oh… ok then." Luke goes, still unsure, "That's not what I meant though. I meant, why are you here and not with your family. You know, back where you came from."

The girl begins to tear up. "Because I don't have a home anymore."

"What?" Luke goes in confusion.

The girl then takes a deep breath, "My home dimension of AX-144 faced dimensional collapse due to a high amount anomalies. Before the entire reality fell apart though, someone, I don't know who, saved me."

"What about your siblings? Your ten brothers?" Luke asks, his voice filling with concern.

"They were…" Nyla tears up, "I couldn't save them." Then, with her voice filling with pain, she continues, "After that I woke up in the Anomaly Elimination Unit HQ. They tested me a bit, told me I was one of the special few capable of being a hunter, gave me a class two designation, informed me that my home dimension was now an 'X' reality, gave me the rules and then sent me off to hunt anomalies."

"Wow… and you're only fifteen?" Luke asks, "I mean, wow… that's crazy."

Nyla nods, "I know bro. But hey, I got used to it."

"What's an 'X' Dimension?" Luke asks, "After all, you said your home reality was AX-144."

"An 'X' dimension is any destroyed reality." Nyla answers, "Apparently, the AEU recruits from those places."

"Oh…" Luke goes once more. "So uhh… what do you wanna do?"

Nyla answers, "How about you tell me about yourself Luke? After all, I spilled about myself."

Luke sighs and strums his guitar, "Sure, after all, it's been an interesting few weeks."

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Linka and Lars rush down the long hallways of the school building. Their hearts race in anticipation as they turn into a stairwell and head down.

" _Come on, the first part has to be around here somewhere!"_ Linka desperately thinks as she bursts into the boiler room.

"Linka." Lars goes, "I know that you're busy and all trying to find some part, but umm…" The Goth boy grabs his sister, "What's going on?"

"Like I said," Linka glares at him, "I'll explain everything later."

Lars steps back in fear, while the girl shines her flashlight at the nearby boiler, illuminating a small, metal frame, no doubt the metal plate that acted as the fragment's base.

Wordlessly, Linka steps forward and places her hand on the part, and immediately, it responds by glowing with orange light, before disappearing.

Before Linka can speak, the glitchy figure from before appears in front of the girl. The being chuckles for a moment, before going, "Hehe, you found one!"

The being disappears with that.

"Ok, one part down, two to go." Linka quips, before turning and running out of the boiler room.

"Linka! Slow down!" Lars goes in frustration, "Stop ignoring me and explain yourself!"

Yet, the girl runs too fast. She easily jumps up the stairs in excitement, _"I'm going to be one step closer to getting home at last!"_ Her heart races as she then banks right and rushes down another hallway, _"Thanks for the one working water fountain Royal Woods."_

Then, she stops and shines her flashlight upon on small opening in the brick wall, illuminating a small, metal box.

" _Where is it?!"_ Linka desperately thinks, _"This is the only working water fountain!_ " She then steps closer and shines her light in the small opening between the wall and the fountain body. _"Jackpot."_ She thinks, before touching the small, black, cone-like part of the fragment."

Immediately, it disappears in burst of orange light as well and the orange figure returns. "Hehe! You found another!" then, the distorted voice glitches more, before the figure puts on a strange smile and finishes, "Lucky you."

And with that, the being disappears once more.

" _Whatever."_ Linka thinks, unsure if it is the adrenaline or her determination to succeed doing the thinking. _"I'm not going to let that… thing scare me. I have a mission and I'm going to see it through!"_

"Linka! Enough!" Lars shouts, "Explain yourself right now or else I'll leave you behind!" Then, the Goth boy grabs onto his sister once more, "Please, what's going on? Why do I feel like I'm in a Flytrap?"

Despite the black bangs coving them, Linka can see the begging eyes Lars has put on, desperate for an answer.

She sighs, "Lars, there's more to me than you know."

"Please Linka, tell me then! We're running around the school on a crazy scavenger hunt and you're not telling me anything!" despite the darkness of the hallway around them, Linka is still able to see the soft tears flowing down Lars' cheeks, "Please, you're my sister. I know we haven't had the best of relationships, I still want to be with you, I want to help you!"

Linka sighs once more, "Lars, I want to tell you everything. I really do…" She looks away as she grabs onto his shoulders, "But… if I did, I'm afraid everything you think about me will change ok? I told Luke this stuff and he's not taking it too well. I don't want you to worry as well."

"Linka…" Lars pleads, "I'm your brother. You're the only person I feel even remotely close to in this family. I know we don't talk too much because I busy myself with my story writing, but that doesn't mean you have to close yourself off to me. Please!"

For a moment, Linka hesitates, _"Should I tell him? I mean, after what happened with Luke, and William's warning… It's not a good idea right?"_ She sighs.

"All right, I'll tell you the truth." Linka responds with a defeated tone, "But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone about anything I tell you, ok?"

Lars nods, "I promise Linka, just please, tell me what's going on!"

Then, she sits down at the base of the water fountain, with her knees up and her arms held around them, and Lars sits down next to her with his legs crossed.

"Well Lars, I guess I'll start with this," She looks him in the eyes she continues, "I'm not really your sister."

"What?" Lars goes, "What are you talking about, of course you're my sister!"

"I'm serious Lars, I'm not really your sister. I'm her counterpart from another reality in which I was a boy and had ten sisters! My real name is Lincoln!"

Lars looks at Linka with a look of disbelief, "Linka, that's seriously impossible to believe." Then he facepalms, "This is just some weird way of Lane getting back at me for scaring him last April Fool's Day." Then he starts to chuckle, "And all of this is just some elaborate prank to humiliate me, right?!"

Linka shakes her head, "No, it's no prank Lars. It's the truth. I'm not really you sister."

"Prove it!" Lars goes, "There's no way you're from another reality!"

" _Well great, how am I going to prove this?"_ Linka thinks for a moment, before sighing, "Yeah, if I told myself that I wouldn't believe it either." She then sighs in defeat, "I don't expect you to believe it either really."

Linka's voice fills with regret, "I was the one boy out of ten loving sisters, but I decided that I would rather have ten brothers, just to see what it was like. So, out of curiosity, my Levi made me a watch capable of sending me to alternate realities…"

"So you went to the other universe and found it wasn't what you expected it to be?" Lars cuts in, his voice gaining an understanding tone to it.

The girl nods, "Yeah. With no girls around, you guys become… well arseholes. So I had enough, and with only a few seconds left on the clock, I jumped through the portal home." Then she sighs, "But out of nowhere, an omnicidal maniac version of myself come out of nowhere and sends me crashing into the wrong portal home." She flares her arms up in defeat, "Then some overly complicated dimensional anomaly stuff goes on and to make a long story short, your Linka and I ended up switching places."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Lars asks, his monotone voice hiding a hard skepticism.

Linka sighs once more, "No, no I don't." Then she continues, "After that, some weird guy came to me calling himself the 'Guardian Of Dimensions' and said that if I wanted to go home and prevent the destruction of my world, I would have to collect the fragments of a device called the 'MacGuffin'." Then, she looks at Lars once more, "That's what I'm doing right now, getting the first fragment."

Lars responds, "Linka, that's the craziest story I've heard in a while. It sounds more akin to fanfiction than anything else."

"Trust me, it's not." Linka responds, "I know it's difficult to believe, but that's the truth."

"Sigh." Lars responds, before chuckling and giving a sly smile, "Well, I guess I know what to write my next story on." Then he looks at her with caring eyes, "Thanks for giving me the inspiration." Then he looks away, "You know, now that I think of it, your story does make sense."

"It does?" Linka raises her eyebrow in confusion.

Lars nods, "Yeah. The real Linka wouldn't come to me for help, ever. She would say I was too spooky to spend time with. She wouldn't spend that much time with any of us really."

"Seriously?" Linka goes, "Why not?"

"Well…" Lars hesitates for a moment, "Sigh, as far as I know, it's because of the incident a few years back that caused her to end up, well, keeping to her own. Dad decided that us brothers had to watch out for the real Linka more, and threatened military school if we didn't. Loki's a testament to that."

"Yeah?" Linka goes.

"After the 'incident' dad and our brothers decided to watch over Linka with an over-protective eye." Lars' voice gains a soft heat to it, "I may have been very young at the time, but they began to ignore me more and more. To the point that I could leave and enter rooms with them noticing." Then he looks at his sister once more, "I wanted to talk to Linka about it, but she always put me off. So, I started to write in order to express the feelings I couldn't show or else my brothers would just put it off as me being a weakling." Then he looks her in the eye, "And while they may be laid back for the most part, being a weakling invites more bullying than you'd expect. That's why I hide the fact that I like My Small Horsie from everyone, even you."

"Lars…" Linka whispers, "I'm so sorry…"

Yet, the boy doesn't respond and instead continues, "So when I saw you spending more time with Lynn, I felt a bit jealous. And when you asked for my help, I felt ecstatic; I couldn't wait to spend time with you! Even if it was just helping you out, you wanted me to go with you!"

Then, the boy curls up, "But you're only a version of her from an alternate reality… Are we really so bad that you want to go?"

" _No… they're not really that bad…"_ Linka thinks, before smiling, "Lars, you guys are some of the best brothers a girl can have. I want to go home because this isn't where I belong."

*Sniff* Lars goes.

"What about the real Linka? Does she want to go home too?" Lars desperately asks.

" _What should I tell him? That his real sister doesn't care and would rather live my life than her own? No, that's a terrible idea."_ Linka then stands up, "Look, Lars, I know you have more questions, and I promise I'll answer them later, but please, I need to get this MacGuffin Fragment as soon as possible."

"Sigh, you promise you'll answer me?" Lars asks, his voice filling with despair.

"Yeah bro, I promise." Linka responds.

"Do you mind if I call you Linka?" Lars continues.

And Linka shakes her head, "Not at all, feel free Lars."

Lars smiles, "Thanks sis." Then he throws his arms around her.

"No problem bro." The girl responds, "By the way, what's the 'incident' I keep hearing about? I've heard you guys talk about it a lot, but I don't know what it is!"

The boy looks away and holds a downtrodden expression, "The incident... I'd rather not talk about it. All I know is, it's why everyone wants to protect you, why Loki ended up going to military school and why I started writing."

"Oh..." Linka responds, "Understood then." Then she stands up and pulls the boy to his feet, "Ok, we have to head to the roof now, the last part should be up there."

Lars turns and steels his nerves, "There's a roof access upstairs, follow me." And with that, the duo rushes through the dark halls once more, their flashlights acting as the only source of light as they bank right into the stairwell again.

After that, they rush up the stairs and burst through the roof access onto the flat top of the building.

The moon shines brightly over them, while the soft sounds of the outside air pelt their senses. The scents of winter fill their noses while they can taste the sweat forming on their brows.

"There it is." Linka whispers, before stepping toward a small, golden, two-part cover. Lars stands by in silence as the girl kneels down and touches the final part.

Immediately, the final piece glows with orange light, and disappears.

And for a few moments, nothing happens.

"Huh, I guess we-"

"Hehe! You did it! You found all three parts!" The glitchy figure then appears once more, before stabilizing, "You did it!" Her voice is filled with a soft, child-like grace.

Linka steps back in uncertainty, while the being continues, "You lit the beacon! Now everyone knows where and when you are!"

"Wait, what?!" Linka goes, "What are you talking about?!"

"You didn't think getting the Segment would be that easy did you?!" The figure chuckles, "A lot of people would want to get it before you! If you want it, it's back where we started everything. Once you collect it, the beacon will automatically turn off. Good luck!" And with that, the being disappears.

Linka turns and looks at Lars, and the boy simply nods in return.

*Beep* *Beep* Linka's bag goes. "What the…"

She quickly goes in and pulls out her Holo-Disk and reads, _ **"Warning, beacon in dimension 63i'\ has been lit. All nearby units completing tasks class two and below, report to beacon immediately."**_

"Linka, what's going on?" Lars nervously asks.

"Dangit." Linka goes before shoving the device back in her bag and running back into the school, "Come on Lars, I'll explain later!"

Then, just as they rush into the school and down the first flight of stairs, a blue and pink portal opens up in front of the stairwell exit

"Quick, hide!" Linka whispers, before ducking behind the stairwell door.

"Care to explain Linka?" Lars asks, and Linka responds, "These are Anomaly Hunters, they're supposed to clean up dimensional anomalies, but currently they're trying to turn me into a card."

"You know what…" Lars goes, "Fill me in later. Just tell me, what do we need to do now?"

Linka nods, "We need to get passed these guys and get to the Teacher's Lounge, before they find the fragment. How would you write a scene like this?"

Lars thinks for a moment, before answering, "Easy, I'd have my character look around and see what they could do, then I'd have them do it."

And Linka responds by quickly looking around the stairwell for a moment, before pointing at another vent. "Lars, do you know the school's vents that well?"

"Yeah sis." Lars answers, and without another word, the duo climbs inside and begins crawling.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"So your brothers seriously chased her through the town?" Nyla asks, "That sounds hilarious!"

Luke chuckles, "Yeah, but Linka didn't think so. Heh, those guys are crazy, but I wouldn't trade them for the world." Then he leans back, and looks at the young woman sitting next to him, "You know, you look really beautiful in the moonlight." The young man blushes.

"You really think so Luke?" Nyla asks, blushing herself.

"Yeah." He responds, before leaning closer to her.

Instinctively, Nyla does the same, and when they are mere centimeters apart.

*Beep* *Beep*

"What the?" Nyla goes, breaking the mood.

"Your Holo-Disk is going off…" Luke goes.

Nyla quickly reads the message and gasps, "Oh no." Then she jumps to her feet, "I'm sorry Luke, I've gotta go!"

"Wait, Nyla, what's going on?!" Luke desperately asks as he grabs the girl's arm, "What's got you so jumpy?!"

"Someone just lit a beacon!" Nyla hastily responds, "Soon this place is going to be overrun by hunters, and since I've been disavowed, they're going to attack me!"

Luke's eyes go wide in shock, "What do you mean?!"

"I mean what I said, someone turned on a dimensional beacon. Now this place is attracting anomaly hunters. Soon, this place is going to be filled with random people all set to turn the beacon off and card all nearby anomalies."

"But Nyla, Linka's in there still! We have to help her!" Luke shouts in desperation.

"No, it's a horrible idea! Just because class two hunters are significantly more powerful than class ones, I'm still going to get overrun!" Nyla responds, her voice filling with annoyance.

Luke looks at Nyla with pleading eyes, "What if I help you out? I know Link isn't my real sister, but that doesn't mean I can abandon both her and Lars, I need your help!"

Nyla sighs, "Dangit Luke."

 _ **A few moments later…**_

" _ **Generating Hunting Field: Music Rush!"**_ The Holo-Disk computers declare in unison.

Immediately a confused hunter shouts, "What the?!"

Followed by another, "Who's getting challenged?!"

A feminine voice responds, "All of you!"

And with that, Luke and Nyla burst in through the front door carrying hardlight guitars

Immediately, the nearby hunters generate their instruments and prepare to counter the musical duo.

"What the heck did you convince me to do Luke?" Nyla asks, gritting her teeth as she does so.

"I convinced you to help Linka and I out." Then he strums, "You ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

And with that, they begin.

* * *

Just like before, Linka and Lars make their way to the teacher's lounge through the school's winding vents, except this time, they hold off for a moment, and watch.

"Dangit, they got here before us." Linka whispers as she watches the two hunters simply stand by the floating Fragment.

"What are we going to do then, Linka?" Lars asks, his voice filling with concern.

Yet, the girl doesn't respond, and continues to watch.

Suddenly, one of the hunters shouts, "Class Two on deck!" And with that, a hooded figure steps into the lounge and approaches the device. The figure stares at the floating fragment for a moment, before turning around and ordering, "Make sure the area is secure." The two hunters nod, before turning and running out of the room.

" _Why does that voice sound so familiar?"_ Linka thinks, before turning back and asking, "Lars, what would you have the characters do next?"

Lars thinks for a moment, before answering, "I'd have them go through their things and see what their options were."

The girl responds by going through her bag and pulling out her Holo-Disk and a small, metal card. She takes a deep breath, before inserting the metal card into the device.

" _ **User detected!"**_ The device declares. And Linka breathes a sigh of relief, before securing the device to her arm.

"You'll explain that later too?" Lars asks and Linka nods, "Yeah, so what would you have next?"

"I'd have them burst through and interrupt whatever is going on."

"Got it." Linka responds before kicking the vent gate open and moving through the opening.

"What the?!" The hunter goes, before Linka raises her Holo-Caster with, "Stay away from the Segment! It's mine!"

The hooded figure steps back in shock and responds, "What the?! No… it can't be!" Then, she throws the hood off, revealing a familiar blonde girl.

Linka's eyes go wide with that.

"Linka?!" The young woman goes.

"Leni?!" Linka responds, her heart racing.

Immediately, the Leni-lookalike's expression becomes downtrodden, "No… my name's Nell…" The young woman begins to tear up, "Sorry… you're just like her…" then, she raises her Holo-Disk as well, "I guess it's safe to assume you lit this beacon huh?"

Linka nods, "Yeah. I need this to get home"

"I'm sorry Linka, but I'm under orders to retrieve this as soon as possible." Nell responds

"So I guess we're going to have to fight huh? Like steels her nerves, "What's the challenge?"

Nell steels herself as well, "How about a cooking contest? Whoever makes the better cinnamon bun wins!"

"Huh?" Linka goes.

Nell nods, "Wanna do it?" Then she whispers, "My Linka always loved cooking those…"

"Uhh… sure…" Linka responds.

"Ok then." Nell then taps away at her Holo-Disk, "My name is Nell Uold of Dimension EX-196!"

Linka grits her teeth, "And I am Linka Loud of Dimension 63i apostrophe backslash."

While this happens, Lars steps back and simply watches in silence.

" _ **Generating Hunting Field: MTT Bakery!"**_ And with that, two hardlight ovens appear in front of the two girls, along with the ingredients needed to prepare the cinnamon buns.

" _Huh, I didn't see this coming…"_ Linka thinks, as she gets to work, _"I wonder what this Leni has been through…"_

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"And don't say if I were you!" Nyla shouts, before strumming her guitar once more. Followed by Luke adding, "Cause you're not me!" And with that, a barrage of hardlight notes flies at the defending hunters, who can only watch as they are pelted by the musical attack, causing Luke and Nyla's score counter to top one million.

"There I think that's the last of them." Luke takes deep breaths in exhaustion.

Nyla raises her Holo-Disk and taps away, and with a burst of purple light, the defeated hunters become metal cards in her hand.

"Why'd you do that?" Luke tiredly asks.

"Policy states if they lose, they have to card themselves, or be disavowed. I just made it easier for them. Plus, they won't be bothering us." Nyla responds, before running forward, "Now come on Luke we have to help Linka!"

Luke quickly follows and the duo rush over to the teacher's lounge.

They burst down the door and ready themselves for a fight… only to find Linka comforting a crying hunter.

"There, there Nell…" She whispers, "Everything's going to be all right."

Luke and Nyla drop their arms and stare in shock, "Uhh… what's going on?"

"They started a cooking contest to try and fight over the Fragment, but after about five minutes of baking, Nell started to cry profusely about how cinnamon buns were her Linka's favorite, so Linka went to her side in an attempt to comfort her." Lars' voice is filled with confusion, as if he is unsure of whether or not to be happy or annoyed at this turn of events, "Personally, I was expecting more of a climax."

"I can't Linka." Nell cries, before standing up, "I don't want to fight you. Even if you're not my actual sister, you… you're still her counterpart, and I could never forgive myself if I turned you into a card." Nell's tears flow down her cheeks. "Take the fragment and turn the beacon off… I'll cover for you."

"T-thanks Nell." Linka responds, before stepping over and taking hold of the floating fragment.

Immediately, the Matter Key Watch responds by glowing, engulfing the fragment in light. And when it dies down, the fragment is gone and the beacon is disabled. "Where'd it go?" Linka asks, and the watch responds by beeping and flashing, _**"MacGuffin Segment Detected and Equipped!"**_

"Awesome, we did it!" Linka cheers, and Lars adds, "Awesome, I'm going to write this in my next story.

Nell then stands up, "Well, it was nice seeing you Linka, I should be-" the young woman gaze then falls on Luke and Nyla.

"Nyla Uold of dimension AX-144, Class two, disavowed." Nell's voice hardens, before she raises her Holo-Disk, "You know what comes next, right?"

Nyla responds by doing the same, "Yeah, I know, you're going to try and card me right?"

"Nell, don't!" Linka shouts, "You don't have to fight!"

"I'm sorry Linka." Nell goes, "But, as a hunter, it's my duty to defeat disavowed members and seal them away as well… even if they remind me of family…" Then she tears up once more, "My… lost family…" then, she drops her disk and sighs, "Man I'm horrible at this anomaly hunter stuff. I can't even finish a simple task. I don't even know why I'm Class two." Nell quips, "If you need me, I'll be heading off I guess."

And with that, Nell turns and opens a portal, "Please, try to stay safe. Please Linka and Luke."

"What the heck?!" A masculine voice shouts, "Class two, Nell Uold, what are you doing?!"

Immediately the five people turn to the lone man.

"What happened to the mission?! What happened to these anomalies?! Why are you ignoring protocol?!" His voice fills with anger, "Have you gone rouge?!"

Nell remains calm and answers, "The mission has been completed. Stand down."

"But these anomalies?!" The hunter goes, "Why are you simply ignoring them?!"

"They are of no concern." Nell responds, her voice filling with a commanding strength.

The hunter raises his Holo-Disk, "You've gone mad haven't you? You've been influenced, if you try to walk away, you will be abandoning your job and I will be forced to report you!"

Nell raises her own Holo-Disk and sighs, "I ordered you as a class two hunter to stand down. If you will not, I will be forced to discipline you."

The hunter doesn't back down.

"Well then, I guess I'll be forced to do so." Leni coldly goes, before tapping away at her Holo-Disk.

" _ **Generating Hunting Field: Dance Dance Evolution!"**_

Immediately, two hardlight arrow pads appear under the two hunters and two hardlight screens appear in front of them. The screens display four directional arrows and lanes for the inputs to follow.

The four others simply stand by in silence and awe as the computer continues, _**"First one to reach one hundred correct inputs wins!"**_

"I will defeat you!" The opposing hunter shouts, "My name is Dennis Orion of dimension KX-165!"

"Ok then, you can try." Nell responds, "I'm Nell Uold of Dimension EX-196."

" **3… 2… 1… Begin!"**

And with that, the two-hardlight screens begin ton flash random notes and keys for the two hunters to hit with their feet.

Nell puts on a smile as she cheerfully dances on the pad, while the opposing hunter desperately fumbles in an attempt to keep up.

The song heats up, causing the moving arrows to move by faster, causing Dennis to stumble even more, while Nell just continues on her way. "I will not let you win." The man angrily shouts.

Then, when Nell hits seventy-five inputs, the board speed maxes out, causing the man to fall down in confusion.

"Come on Dennis, I thought you were going to beat me!" Nell taunts. "This is why you don't challenge class two." Then, with one final string of inputs, Nell's counter rises above one hundred. And the game ends."

"That was too easy." Nell responds, before aiming her Holo-Disk. Then, with flash of turquoise light, the opposing hunter ends up as a metal card in Nell's hand. "Heh, that was fun too." She quips, before turning to the group. "You guys take care now, will ya?"

"Yeah, see ya around Nell!" Linka goes, "If you wanna hang out, you know where to find me!"

Then, Nell looks at Nyla with a serious expression, "Nyla, you know what's coming for you right?"

The disavowed hunter nods.

"Good, I wish you luck sis." Nell finishes, before opening a portal and stepping through.

"Wow… well that was… fast… and unexpected." Lars quips.

"Yeah… but it was Leni, Loni's counterpart. What did you expect?" Linka responds, "Do you think we'll see her again?"

Nyla shrugs, "Who knows, maybe."

"What was she talking about by the way?" Linka asks, "What's coming?"

"I'll answer that later." Nyla quickly answers, much to the group's dismay.

"Anyways, that was interesting for a night." Luke finally goes, "Come on guys, let's go home."

Lars and Linka turn to each other and nod, before walking out of the room.

"Hey Luke." Nyla grabs the young man's arm before he can go.

"Yeah Nyla?" Luke responds, and the girl digs her hand into her pocket and pulls out a small, microphone-like device, "I heard you needed something like this, hope it helps."

Luke takes the part in hand and looks at in surprise, "How'd you know?"

"I stalk you at night." Nyla then chuckles, "Don't worry, I came by earlier to ask you on a date, and I overheard you talking to Levi." Then she holds her arm, "So… wanna go on a date sometime Luke?"

The young man shoves the part in his pocket and smiles, "Sure Nyla, come by later and we'll plan it." Then he turns and glances at Linka and Lars, "I've got to bring those two home."

Nyla then hugs Luke and whispers, "No worries, I understand." Luke returns the embrace with that.

And then, the siblings simply head home.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

Luke, Linka and Lars walk into their home, tired and slightly bruised, but still not turned into cards.

"So how was that walk kids?" Rita asks.

Linka responds, "It was awesome, I can't wait to go again sometime!"

"Heh, ok then Linka, tell us in the morning." Lynn Sr. goes, "It's time for you three to head off to bed."

"Yes sir." The boys respond, while Linka goes, "Got it dad." After that, all three children head up to their rooms, with Luke making sure to leave the newly acquired piece with Levi before heading off.

With a final goodnight, Linka steps into her own room, and is immediately greeted by a familiar old man.

"You did it Linka!" William cheers, his voice filling with excitement. "You got the first fragment!"

"Yeah, just had to fight another hunter and ran into a Leni counterpart." Linka quips. "By the way, the people that got carded, they're not… dead, right?"

"No, that would be morbid… though now that I think of it, sealed in a metal card for all eternity isn't the best way to go out…" William shakes his head, "anyways, I just came to congratulate you for what you did as well as give you the next clue."

Linka raises an eyebrow, "Oh? And where would the next piece be?"

"The next piece rests where what is seen cannot be unseen." The guardian answers, tipping his hat as he does so.

"Just as vague as ever huh?"

"Of course." And with that, the guardian disappears.

Linka then sighs, "Well, one part down, more to go am I right?" And with that, she throws herself on the bed and falls into a deep sleep.

5-22-5-18-25 10-15-21-18-14-5-25 19-20-1-18-20-19 23-9-20-8 1 19-9-14-7-12-5 19-20-5-16. 20-8-5 22-25-12-15-14 19-5-7-13-5-14-20 8-1-19 2-5-5-14 6-15-21-14-4!

 **A/N Well, I hope you guys enjoyed! I thank Exotos for editing and Wolvenstrom and Sunblast X for ideas! What did you guys think? Was the chapter too slow? Was there enough action? Also** **I wonder, does anyone actually translate the cryptograms I leave at the end of every chapter?**

 **As always, leave a prompt suggestion for one you'd like to see done! How about one for Lane or Lexx?**


	16. A Lion And Her Cub

**A/N Hey guys! I'm back once more! My head hurts severely now, but hey, I'll manage. Here's the next chapter! Something lighthearted given chapter 15 was so crazy.**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: The Louds Decide to pay the grandparents a visit and Linka spends some time with Leon. "**_ _ **Have you considered 'how' their paternal grandparents will be brought into the picture?" (Story Request and Dialogue Prompts by Wolvenstrom)**_

Story Sixteen: A Lion And Her Cub

After a long day one might find solace in stargazing, after all, what could be more relaxing then just laying down and simply watching the night bring you comfort?

Linka leans back against the hard tiling of the roof with her hands held firmly behind her head as she watches the sky above. Despite the usual noise of her home, most of it would die down after lights out… save for the snoring.

Given what had happened just a few days prior, it's understandable.

*Sigh* She goes, before sitting up and staring at the watch that had given her so much grief and yet held the way home. "One fragment down, three to go right? To prevent the destruction of the world?" She lies back down, "William… I wish you were more direct."

"Hey Linka." A familiar voice greets.

The girl looks up with that, "Oh hey Lars, what brings you here so late?"

The Goth boy carefully steps over and takes a seat next to her sister, "I usually come up here before dinner to get some peace and quiet. It's one of the best places to write…" Then he looks at the notepad in his hands, "Plus, the cold air keeps me up. Not that anyone would notice if I'm in my bed or not."

Linka raises an eyebrow before shrugging, "Fair enough bro."

"So what brings you here so late… Linka." Lars continues, his tone unchanging, yet his voice filling with a brotherly heat, as if he were begging for something that he rather not say.

"I just came up here to think about stuff." Linka sits up and turns to face her brother, "I've been here for three months now and have just got the first fragment after all…"

Lars then begins to write, "Hey Linka… you didn't tell me yet, but how's… the real you doing? You know, back where you came from?"

" _Dangit, I knew he'd ask that!"_ Linka quickly thinks, before giving a soft sigh, "She's doing well and all. You know, just spending time with my sisters like I've been spending time with you and all."

"Linka," Lars starts, "Sigh, you know you've been dodging the question ever since that night." Then he turns to Linka with begging eyes, "Please tell me the truth, I can handle it. What's going on with the real Linka?"

"Nothing Lars." Linka calmly responds, desperate to keep things calm, "She just… hasn't gotten as far as I have, you know, getting the MacGuffin Fragments and all."

"You sure Linka?" The Goth boy begins to write, "Sigh, if it were that simple you would've told me it a while ago." Without looking at the girl masquerading as his sister he continues, "I know you're trying to hide something Linka, please, I need to know. I want to help my sister come home!"

Linka sighs, "I'll tell you some other time. I… I need to go check on her? You know, inter-dimensional viewing goggles are on the fritz again so I'll have to fix them and stuff."

"Sigh." Lars stands up, "I'll just wait…" And with that, the younger boy turns and walks back into the home.

"Heh, I'm too easy to read." Linka sighs, "Well… now that I think of it, I wonder how Linka's doin' back home… how bad could it have gotten?" and so, Linka stands up and calmly climbs back in, through the window into Leon and Levi's room.

"Thanks Levi." Linka says, before quietly passing the scientist and walking into her own room.

"Strange…" Levi then screws in a small nut and declares, "And my latest invention is complete!" He then turns and shouts, "Luke! Lars! Can you come here?!"

A few moments pass and the duo enters the scientist's room.

"What is it Levi?" Luke asks with a bored tone. "I was just about to practice my singing and stuff."

"And I was about to get to writing. It's taking me too long to write the next chapter of my latest story." Lars then sits down and begins writing, "I have to take every chance I get to write."

"You ok bro?" Luke looks at his younger brother with a concerned expression, "You seem like you haven't gotten much sleep last night."

"I can stop writing whenever I want!" Lars snaps, "Just because I have been pulling all-nighters to do this doesn't mean I-"

"Siblings!" Levi adjusts his glasses and motions towards a small helmet-like device, "Luke, I've finished the Dimensional Communicator, I need to you to test it right here in case something goes wrong and I need to make an adjustment of some kind.

Luke nods, "Ok."

"And why am I here?" Lars asks, his voice filling with a monotone lack of care, "This is already starting to cut into my writing time."

"I just wanted to ask you about the walk you had with Linka. After all, I've been so busy that I was unable to ask you sooner, so if you've forgotten some details, that will be all right."

"Sigh." Lars answers, "Nothing of value happened during that walk. Linka just wanted to go out for a walk to clear her head." Then he pulls out his clipboard, "In fact, the walk inspired some of my writing, but alas, our sister is still our sister and nothing more."

"I see." Levi gives a soft sigh, "I suppose that is a good thing. I suppose my belief that she would rather be our brother must have been unfounded. That will be all Lars."

Lars simply nods, before disappearing as abruptly as usual.

Then, the scientist turns to face the purple helmet, "Now Luke, this device is very fragile. Please be very careful when handling it."

Luke shrugs, "Ok bro." While he thinks, _"I just hope I can talk some sense into Linka…"_ and with that, he equips the helmet.

The scientist flips a small switch with that, causing a small, glass, facemask to drop and secure Luke's head in place, before the AI speaks.

" _ **User detected: Luke Loud of Dimension 63i Apostrophe Backslash."**_ A soft, feminine voice greets. _**"Unit is ready for dimensional insertion. Please input designation of dimension destination."**_

"First… Cortana?" Luke asks.

" _ **Yes. The sound files used for unit creation originated from video game: HALO."**_

"Levi, you need to find better sound files." Luke flatly stares, before continuing, "Ok, Crotona, I would like to see uhh, how about Dimension C-137?"

" _ **Input accepted. Tracking signature of Dimensional Counterpart!"**_ The AI goes, before a flash of light bursts across Luke's face. _"Here I go, time to finally confront Linka with what she's been doing for the past few months."_

And when Luke opens his eyes, he finds himself in a familiar linen closet, _"So far so good…"_ He takes a quick look around, noticing its familiar pink paint had been replaced by a soft green one. _"Just like last time, ok, here we go."_

Suddenly, the room door opens, revealing two boys, _"Wait… what? Ron Andy?"_

"Are you sure you wanna do this Ron?" The Lincoln counterpart asks, before jumping on the bed.

"Of course Lincoln, you're the only boy I want to spend my life with!" And the Ron Andy counterpart jumps on top of him.

Without another word, the two boys begin to kiss and begin to undo each other's pants.

"Linka?! What the heck is going on?!" Luke shouts, his face turning red from embarrassment.

Immediately the two boys stop, "Did you hear something Ron?" Lincoln nervously asks.

"Nope." Ron responds and they get back to work.

"Cortana! What dimension did you send me to?!" Luke angrily asks, "I said C-137!"

" _ **Unit has sent you to dimension Sea-137. Unit is now confused by user input."**_

Luke grits his teeth, before taking the helmet off and glaring at Levi, "Levi! One these don't work. Two, this thing sent me to a dimension where Linka's male counterpart and Ron Andy were gay lovers!"

"Interesting." Levi goes, before taking the helmet back in his hands, "I apologize, I been unable to find a device capable of supporting every function required to get these to work properly."

"What about the piece I got you?" Luke asks, his voice filling with frustration, "You said that's all you needed!"

"I wish it were that simple." Levi gives a defeated sigh, "For most devices if I got the part that I was missing I'd equip it and complete it before the night were out." Then he returns to work, "But for some reason, inter-dimensional communication just doesn't seem to work! I doubt it's because of the anomalies!"

"Well, maybe you've missed some calculations or something. After all, you made Linka a set of Dimension-viewing goggles!" Luke responds, his voice filling with hope.

"Yes, I did, but simply viewing dimensions is one thing, communicating between them is an entirely different story." Then he takes a deep breath, before throwing his wrench across the room in frustration, before throwing his body into his chair, "I've been working on these for weeks and they still don't work!"

Luke hesitates for a moment, before placing a soft, fatherly hand on the boy's shoulder, "Don't worry Levi, you'll finish them eventually, but throwing your tools around isn't going to help you finish them sooner ok?"

Levi takes another deep breath, before turning and nodding, "You're right… I'll get back to the drawing board." Before he thinks, _"But… I suppose this will not be complete for a while. I need to start back from square one."_

"Ok… you ok Levi?" Luke asks.

Levi takes a moment to regain his composure, "I'm fine. I was just hoping that I would be able to find out why our sister has suddenly opened up. I'm afraid that if she doesn't want to be our sister, she rather just leave us for an alternate reality…"

" _If only you knew…"_ Luke smiles, before ruffling Levi's messy hair, "Don't worry bro, she's going to be fine."

And with that, Luke stands up, "Anyways, if you need me I'll be in my room, ok?"

The scientist nods and with that, Luke walks out of the room and passes by a familiar linen closest, where Linka rests, preparing to do something she had done countless times before.

"Another day, another chance to see how badly Linka's ruining my life." Linka whispers before slipping a familiar set of goggles on, "Hey GLaDOS, you ready for the usual directives?"

" _ **You sure you don't want to calibrate me first User: Linka Loud? After all, I believe there are still other universes that you must see in order to be ready for… whatever is to come."**_ The AI responds.

"Seriously GLaDOS? Are you trying to be a fortune teller or something?" Linka chuckles.

" _ **No, I just believe that as long as you have the ability to see into alternate realities, you should be numb to what comes."**_

Linka sighs, "Whatever GLaDOS, I just want to see my real home again, please."

" _ **Yes User: Linka Loud."**_

And with that, a flash of light bursts across the girl's face, forcing her to shut her eyes. And when they open once more, Linka finds herself standing in front of a familiar Nursing home, one with a beautiful modern design that breathed of the amount of money one would have to drop to get in.

" _Huh?"_ Linka thinks, _"Why am I at pop-pop's this time?"_ She quickly looks around, and stops her imposter standing at the gate.

"Now Lincoln, have fun with grandpa today!" Rita asks, before shutting Vanzilla and driving off. From what the girl can see, Lincoln's hair, while still long, had been trimmed slightly. Instead of the poufy dresses that he used to be in, he wore a simple orange shirt and blue pants. For a moment, Lincoln starts to look like his old self again!

" _I wonder if the real Linka's only now starting to feel the way I am…"_ Linka thinks, before stepping forward.

Albert greets his grandson with, "Haha! Lincoln my boy! How are ya doin'?" Then he playfully pats his side, "You've changed since I last saw you!"

Lincoln puts on a sheepish smile as he responds, "I'm doin' fine grandpa! Everything's fine!"

"Why, what happened to Pop-pop?" Albert jokingly responds while he throws his arms around him, "Don't tell me you've forgotten what we do together!"

"Of course I wouldn't forget pop-pop!" Lincoln responds, his voice filling with nervousness.

Albert brings the boy closer, before declaring, "Why my boy, we're going to have a grand old time today! I have so many manly things planned! You're gonna love it!"

"You sure that's a good idea Pop-pop, I mean I uhh…" Lincoln goes, only for Albert to respond. "Your mom's worried that you've been spending too much time with your sisters, so she decided to call me in hoping that your former marine grandpa could give you a manly person to spend time with!"

"Ok…" Lincoln nervously goes.

"Now, let's get you into some greens, I have some spares left over from my time." Then Albert lifts the boy up with ease, "You're goin' to have a brilliant old time you and I!"

No doubt, Albert was doing his best to hold back some sort of emotion.

And with that, Albert and Lincoln step back into the home. For a moment Linka considers following them, just as she had done countless times before, and yet this time, she simply sighs and goes, "I think I'm good for now GLaDOS. Send me home."

" _ **What User: Linka Loud? That's the shortest amount of time you've spent gazing into another world! Are you sure?"**_

"Since when have you cared GLaDOS?" Linka retorts, "You're just a snarky A.I. that has no limits!"

" _ **True. Input accepted, returning User to dimension of origin!"**_ And with that, the goggles shut down once more, bringing the young girl back to her room.

She then takes the goggles off and places them softly on the table, before taking hold of the Matter Key Watch, "Well… I guess things could be worse… Linka seems to finally start converting to me like I've converted to her… but she doesn't know how to spend time with Pop-pop… and mom's really worried about me."

A curious expression overtakes the girl's face, _"Now that I think of it, we haven't visited Pop-pop here in months... I wonder why that is. I remember we'd at least get a call or something from him every now and then, but it's been almost three months..."_

"Ehh, it's probably not important." Linka shakes her head, "After all, it's been a week and I haven't had another breakthrough… I wonder where the next fragment could be…" Then she sighs, "And I still haven't told Lars the truth…Given the way Luke behaved when he found out the truth, even if it wasn't as bad as I had expected, it was still bad. Even if Lars likes me, what'll he do when he find out his real sister doesn't want to come home?!"

She sighs once more, "I guess I'll just save that problem for when I get to it…"

"Linka! I need you!" Rita calls, her soft voice echoing through the home."We have to make dinner!"

"Coming mom!" Linka responds, before jumping to her feet, rushing down the stairs and joining her loving mother in preparing dinner.

After that, Linka helps in serving dinner, before taking her seat next to her brothers just as she had done countless times before.

With all of his children gathered for their meal, Linka's father speaks, "So how were your days, kids?" his fatherly voice giving a commanding strength.

Loki is the first to speak, "Well, I managed to hit the gym today, and I have completed my routine. Also, I was able to complete acquiring the gear for our trip in a few weeks." Then, the young man shoves another spoonful of food in his mouth.

"Good." Lynn Sr. then looks at Loni, and the young man responds, "I was able to finish the repairs to the roof!" Before putting on a pained smile.

Their father nods again, "Luke?"

Luke doesn't respond, and instead continues to pick at his food, the image of a male Linka kissing Ron Andy burned into his mind.

"Hey Luke." Linka nudges her brother, causing him to flinch up.

"Huh, what?" He stammers, "Oh uhh, I was fine. I uhh, got to work on that song I've been putting off."

Lynn Sr. stares for a moment, "Are you sure son? It seems you've got something on your mind."

Luke shakes his head, "It's nothing, just uhh, girl problems and stuff."

"I see, ok then." The father goes, before looking at the next brother, "How about you Lane? What did you do today?"

Lane responds, "I managed to do three parties!" Immediately followed by Lynn Jr. declaring, "Oh yeah Lane?! I managed to play three games today, and won all three!"

Lynn Sr. gives a soft, approving smile, before turning to his lone daughter.

Yet, before he can ask her, she goes, "Hey dad…"

"Yes Linka?" He responds.

"I was wondering…" Linka awkwardly rubs the back of her head, "Why do we never visit grandma and grandpa?"

"Oh, no reason…" The man's voice trails off with uncertainty, while he turns to his wife for some guidance.

Rita responds by simply shrugging, forcing Lynn Sr. to go, "We just haven't found the time to do so." Then he gives a soft gaze. "We'll talk about it some other time ok?"

"Ok dad…" Linka gives a disappointed nod, "I was just wondering because… well I remember one of my friends talking about how excited they were to visit their grandparents and stuff…"

"It's ok honey. Now how about we get to eating? After such busy days, you guys must be hungry!" Rita speaks up, desperate to change the conversation topic, for some reason.

 _ **Later...**_

"Maybe we should go see them, after all, it's been eighteen years since we last saw them…" Rita suggests, her voice filling with a motherly calm, "You've been putting this off for years now Lynn!"

"I'm not sure Rita… I just have a bad feeling about it…" her husband counters, his voice filling with a fatherly concern, "I don't want to risk putting them through that!"

"But they deserve to meet them." Rita responds, he voice bordering on shouting. Now, normally, their room's walls would hide the arguing, but of course, there is a small opening in their closet that allows the noise to go upstairs.

Linka stands in front of the vent and simply listens to her parents, "Come on Lynn, what's the worst that could happen? Just because they didn't approve last time, doesn't mean they won't approve this time!"

" _What's she talking about?"_ Linka thinks, _"Back home we used to visit Pop-pop all the time!"_

"Yeah, it's been eighteen years," Lynn Sr. continues, his voice filling with despair, "But that doesn't mean my mom and dad are going to just forget what we did! We ran away from home! They called you a word I won't scream in this house!"

" _Oh… but… what?"_ Linka tilts her head in confusion, _"Mom and dad didn't run away… did they?"_ Then she sighs, _"Alternate dimensions are confusing."_

"Well, wouldn't you want to see Loki after he ran away? 'Welcome home my wayward son' was it?"

"It's 'Carry on my wayward son'…" The father thinks for a moment, "Fine, you win." Lynn Sr. sighs in defeat, "We'll take them to see their grandparents in the morning. But we're leaving at the first sigh of trouble, got that?"

"Agreed," Rita responds, before continuing with a seductive voice, "now come over honey, you know what comes next."

Immediately, Linka's face goes red in surprise, before she promptly turns and rushes out of the bathroom… only to hear a rather loud crying emanating from the room next to hers.

" _I wonder…"_ Linka thinks, before she sticks her head in Levi and Leon's room, only to find the scientist desperately trying to calm Leon down. "Uhh, what's going on Levi?"

"Oh Linka! Great timing!" Levi desperately goes, before running over and shoving the baby into her arms, "Please, I need your help with Leon, he won't stop crying! I checked his diaper, and he's not hungry, I don't know what to do!"

Linka calmly takes the baby in her arms. "Calm down little Leon." She whispers, before softly shaking him, "Everything's going to be all right. Your older sister is here for you!" Then, she places a soft kiss on his forehead, causing the baby to laugh. "Poo-poo!"

"Wow Linka, how'd you do that?" Levi asks, shock filling his voice.

Leon proceeds to gnaw on Linka's Matter Key Watch while she responds, "It's just something sisters know how to do. I guess you could call it my sister's intuition." Then she chuckles, before kneeling down, "And I think you would like me to read you a bedtime story, don't you?"

Levi blushes in surprise, before tapping his fingers together and looking away. "Well I…" Then he drops the tough boy demeanor and nods, "Yes…"

Linka smiles, not noticing the dim glow of her watch and a small stream of light flow into the baby. "Heh, ok then, get in bed then Levi."

The scientist boy complies and Linka responds by tucking him in. After that, she places Leon in his crib as well and stands between them.

The young girl thinks for a moment, before beginning, "There once was a young boy that questioned his life and family. And decided to try and see the world outside his own home." With a soft, motherly voice, she continues, "But he realized that the home he found was not the one he wanted and so he came running back to his true home. And he lived, happily, ever, after."

And with that, the young girl places a soft kiss on her younger brother's foreheads, before turning off the light and closing the door behind her.

" _Huh, that was strange…"_ Linka thinks as she steps into her own bed, _"I didn't expect that to happen… most of the time I used to just pass Lily off to one of my sisters._ " Then she chuckles, _"I guess here, they pass Leon off to me… I wonder why I'm just noticing this now."_

She sighs and simply tucks herself in for the night, before closing her eyes and going to sleep. _"I hope everything is going to be fine…"_

 _ **The next morning…**_

"You sure we have to go Rita?" Lynn Sr. asks, his voice filling with reluctance as he shoves the key in the ignition and turns.

"Yes." Rita answers, "Our children deserve to meet their grandparents, after all, things have changed! It's been years, how bad could it be?!" Then she glances back, making sure that her ten sons and one daughter are all buckled in and ready for a car trip."

*Sigh* Lynn Sr. goes, "You don't know my parents." And with that, he starts the car. He grits his teeth and drives off with that.

It takes close to an hour of driving for the Louds to finally reach their grandparent's home, though none really mind. After all, Linka was given the sweet spot, with Loki making sure to sit next to her.

Finally, their father turns and stops in front of a small home, with peeling white paint and a small lawn that seemed to have been well maintained. A small brick path stretches from the small, chain-link fence to the door.

"Here we go." He whispers, before ordering, "Ok kids, out of the van!"

With that, the ten Loud children file out and stand before the home.

" _Huh, so this is where pop-pop err, mam-mam lives?"_ Linka thinks before Lynn Sr. takes point and step onto the property.

"I can't believe we're visiting grandpa and grandma." Loki quips.

"Yeah! It's so exciting!" Loni responds, "I wonder why we never visit them!"

The man glances back, "Kids, I want you to be on your best behavior when we go here, got that? Your grandfather is a bit… old fashioned. To say the least, and he's never been one for surprise visits." Then, he rings the bell.

The Loud Family stands by in silence as they wait. Soft sounds of shuffling pass for a moment, before the front door goes *click* and opens up, revealing a balding old man in a light-read long sleeve shirt. His skin is wrinkled, no doubt from age, and yet his light skin remains smooth. He stands shorter than Lynn Sr. and yet, brings in a stronger air of authority than the man.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" The man greets, "I didn't order a circus act."

*Sigh* Lynn Sr. goes, "It's me dad. Your son." Loosening up his expression as he does so.

The man shows no emotion as he responds, "Well, I can see you've been busy. How many kids you got there?"

"Eleven." Lynn Sr. flatly responds, "I've got eleven kids."

"And it seems you're still with that woman." He continues, and the younger man nods, "Yes…"

"Care to tell me how long it's been? And why after all these years you've decided to suddenly appear on my doorstep?" The old man asks, his voice filling with a soft anger.

"It's been eighteen years dad." The man responds, "And I came because I wanted to introduce you to my family, after all…" He grits his teeth, "It's about time you met what I've been working on with the woman of my dreams."

The old man proceeds to slam the door in his son's face.

"Well, that's that I guess…" Lynn Sr. quips… only for the door to open once more, revealing a little old lady, who too had perfect skin despite her age. She wears a green sweater, and has soft brown hair.

Her eyes go wide at the sight of the family and she throws her arms around Lynn Sr. "Oh my darlin' boy! You've come home! How have you been?! You haven't called!" Then she grabs hold of the man and declares, "Come! We have much to talk about!" And with that, she drags the man inside, much to his dismay.

" _Huh, that's funny."_ Linka thinks, before the rest of the Loud Family simply shrugs and follows them inside.

The interior of the home is small, with every inch of the space decorated with random photos of the resident couple's numerous travels as well as the various trinkets they had brought back with them.

The old woman leads her son of to the kitchen, before ordering, "Come, come, take a seat! I know this table isn't that big, but we have to make due with what we've got after all!" And so, the Loud Family crowds around the table, with Linka, Lynn Sr. and Rita taking up the only open chairs at the table, forcing the brothers to stand.

"You have so much to tell us, where do you live? How are you doing?" The old woman's voice is filled with excitement as she clutches her son's hands.

"I've been doing ok mom. I live in Royal Woods now." Lynn Sr. Responds.

"Oh my, Royal Woods?!" She goes, "You must be rich now! Isn't that an expensive place to live nowadays?!"

Lynn Sr. puts on a sheepish smile, "Well, with a big family, money's always tight. We manage though, Rita works in business and I'm a dentist."

"So how are those 'urges' getting you?" His father cuts in, "From what I can see, they haven't lessened over the years."

"Now Larry, our son has come to visit." The woman responds, "We should give him a chance to introduce his family, before you release the rage you've pent up all these years."

"Seriously?! Our son is forcing himself to drive a van that should have stopped running years ago. I can probably guess what else he's doing! He probably lives in a house with walls thin as rice paper. And makes his children wear the same outfit every day just to have enough money to support his ever growing family."

"What, it's easier to buy in bulk!" Loni responds, causing the other Loud Brothers to glare at him.

Larry facepalms, before shouting, "Lynn Junior!""

Immediately, Lynn responds, "What? I didn't do anything! Yet…"

"Not you! Him!" The old man points at his son. "Lynn Junior!"

"Wait, dad's named after you too?" Luke begins to chuckle.

"Not exactly, he's named after me." The old woman cuts in, "My name's Lynn."

Linka thinks for a moment, "So if you're Lynn senior." She points at her grandmother, before pointing at her father, "And dad is Junior…" Then she points at Lynn, "That would make Lynn here..."

"Don't you dare Linka." Lynn mutters, gritting his teeth as he does so… only for Loni to cut her of, "Lynn Junior Junior?"

Lynn groans and shoves his face in hands.

"Technically he's Lynn the eighth. It's a tradition on my side to pass the name down." Their grandmother responds with a soft smile.

"And yet someone decided to have what looks like four more kids, before doing so didn't he?" their grandfather continues, "Did you run out of names or somethin' Jr.?"

"Well I-" Lynn Sr. starts… only for his father to interrupt again, "You did, and then out of desperation you decided to finally pass down the name."

"But dad I-" Lynn Sr. starts again, only to point at Linka, "I bet your only daughter doesn't even know how to take care of a child!"

Linka then speaks up, "I uhh, take care of Leon and change his diapers and-"

Yet, the grandfather simply continues, "But do you know what you're supposed to do when a baby starts crying in the middle of the night? Or how to properly burp a child? Or how to feed a child the natural way?!"

"Uhh… no." Linka responds, her face turning red as she does so.

Larry glares at his son, "And I bet the rest of your sons-"

"Enough Larry!" The old woman goes, her voice filling with anger, "Our son has decided to stop by, and all you've done so far is berate him for having a large family and insult his skills." Then, with fire in her eyes she continues, "So how about this, you go spend the day with him, go to Dairy Flags or something and catch up with your son and meet you grandsons and by the time you get back, I want you to tell me one good thing about them all." The old woman then motions towards herself, "While I stay here and try to get to know my daughter-in-law and my only granddaughter, ok?"

Then the old woman looks at Linka, "I'll even teach her what the lessons I've learned about being a mother." Then she motions towards Leon and Rita, "We'll hold onto the little one while you're gone so you don't have to worry much."

"What, but Lynn, I'm not going to take care of nine-" The old man starts, while his son adds, "Mom, I'm not sure that's a-"

Yet, with a straight face and a deadpan tone, the woman continues, "Lynn, Bertram, Loud, Junior."

Both Lynn juniors freeze, while Loki, Leif and Linka mouth "Bertram."

Then, she continues, "Lawrence, Louise, Loud." Then, she points at door. "Go bond. Now."

The father and son look at each other with worried eyes.

Lynn Sr. then quickly asks, "You remember how to drive the van?"

Larry doesn't hesitate to respond, "Nope."

And with that, the duo darts out the door, while everyone except Leon stares at the older woman with jaws open.

"Aren't you boys going after them?" The woman adds.

"You don't have to tell us twice." Loki responds, before the brothers take the hint and dart off.

*Cough* *cough* "Aren't you forgetting something kids?" The elderly woman yells.

Immediately, the brothers all facepalm, before backtracking, making a line, and kissing their grandma on the cheek in descending order and racing out the door... again.

And while this happens, Leon just giggles.

"You'll learn how to do that after we go over how to clean re-usable diapers." The old woman chuckles, while she turns to Linka. "After all, knowin' how to scare boys comes in handy when you need something done!"

"Wait... there's such a thing as reusable diapers?!" Linka goes in surprise, "Seriously?!"

"Yes my dear." The grandmother goes, before looking up at Rita, "How much does she know about… where babies come from?"

Rita rubs the back of her head in embarrassment, "We gave her the birds and the bees a while ago..."

Linka shakes her head and shrugs, "Well... I know that umm, a guy sticks his thing in me and umm..." Her face starts to go red as she tries to come up with the words.

The grandmother sighs, "That's enough." Then he grabs Linka "Time to get your hands dirty. From what I can smell, your little brother needs a change, so how about you show me what you can do?"

And with that, the girl takes Leon in her arms; from a single sniff she can tell that his diaper needed changing. _"Ok, let's do this."_ She then brings him over to a nearby table and begins getting to work. With her grandmother and mother watching, she easily undoes the diaper, then using baby wipes, cleans the area off.

"Splendid!" Her grandmother declares, while Rita hands her a new diaper, "Now you just have to replace it."

And with a few more motions, she does so, before taking the young boy in her hands, and cradling him.

 _"Wow, this feels so nice."_ Linka thinks, before she says with a nostalgic tone, "I wonder if I'm going to be a mother one day..." Suddenly the realization dawns on her. _"Wait… if I stay as Linka too long..."_ Her heart races in panic, "What if I can't take care of them." Her voice speeds up, "What if, what if-"

"Calm down Linka." Rita speaks up, "You're going to be fine."

Grandma Lynn then continues, "If you've got some Loud in you, you're going to be a fine mother."

"But what if I become a mother too soon?!" Linka frantically goes, careful not to drop Leon. _"And why does becoming a mother seem so… exciting?"_

Her grandmother smiles, "Don't worry, you'll be fine. Just don't let a guy stick it in you and you won't have to worry about anything." Then she kneels down and looks her in the eyes, "Now Linka, your mother and I have some bonding to do. Can you watch Leon while we're gone?"

"Wait, you're leaving me?!" Linka shouts, her voice filling with fear. "I don't know how to be a mom! I can't-"

"Are you sure that's a good idea Lynn?" Rita cuts in, "She hasn't been left alone in years. She-"

Grandma Lynn cuts her off with, "From what I could see with her changing that diaper, she will have an easy time caring for her baby brother." Then she chuckles and puts on a soft smile as she turns to face Linka, "You'll be fine, just stay calm ok?"

Linka gives a meek nod, "Ok Grandma…"

"Good." her grandmother adds, "Feel free to watch whatever you want on the TV, we have all the channels you could want."

"Ok…" Linka responds,

"Now come Rita, I know a great place we can get some good bread. It'll be a nice place to be."

"Ok Lynn." Rita nervously responds, before turning to her daughter, "Be careful Linka. Leon's feisty."

Linka nods, "Got it." and with that, her mother and grandmother walk out of the home.

" _Well… that was unexpected…"_ Linka thinks, before she walks over and places Leon on the couch. "Ok Leon, what do you wanna watch?"

"Poo-poo!" Leon responds, before flailing his arms around and yelling random baby gibberish.

"Hmm, Blarney The Dinosaur sounds nice." Linka answers, before taking a seat next to him and turning on the TV. A few seconds pass before the old thing finally boots up and shows a dancing Irish Dinosaur singing, _**"The world is a huge place! Let's go!"**_ And with a scene flip, the Dinosaur moves from the small home to an oversized park, followed by one of the many overblown musical numbers the show is famous for.

"Goo-goo!" Leon laughs and claps his hands in joy.

"Haha, you like that Leon?" Linka asks, before raising the boy up and making a silly face, "Hey look, I'm Blarney!"

Leon smiles more, before clapping his hand and shouting, "Poo-poo!"

"Haha, you want to go to the park huh?" Linka asks, her voice filling with motherly warmth, "I'm sure there's one around here. Mom and grandma won't care if I take you out for a bit I'm sure." Then she nuzzles the boy's belly playfully, causing him to laugh… and then start glowing.

"What the…" Linka whispers, before Leon disappears with a flash of light.

Linka blinks twice, "What the heck just happened?! What happened to you Leon?!" The girl jumps to her feet and runs around the house in a frantic search for her baby brother, "Where are you?!"

The young girl's heart races as she rushes outside. _"Where could he have gone? Is this an anomaly's doing?! Why did he disappear?!"_

She scans the street with panic in her movement; only spot Leon simply crawling across the street.

"Leon!" Linka desperately shouts, before rushing towards the boy.

Leon continues to crawl across; not worrying about the cars driving passed him.

Suddenly, a frog jumps in front of the boy… only to immediately get hit by a car.

"Oh no, Leon!" She ducks and dodges in front of an incoming car, before rolling, grabbing the boy and landing safely on the other side of the road.

"Phew, that was a close one." Linka quips, before attempting to look at the baby she had rescued.

"Poo-poo!" He cheerfully greets, only for Linka to look at him in annoyance, "Leon! Don't do that, you had me so worried!" Then with a more motherly tone she continues, "If you wanted to go to the park, you just had to ask, I would've taken you!"

Yet, Leon simply responds with some more random baby gibberish, before glowing again and disappearing.

"Leon!" She shouts, "What's going on?! Babies aren't supposed to disappear, right?!" She frantically scans the area around her, and spots her baby brother now entering a nearby playground.

"This is going to be frustrating day." The girl whispers, _"But I guess a mother's work is never done… Why do I feel so… strange?"_ She shakes her head and gives chase to the baby.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"This is a horrible idea." Larry declares, "I don't even know why she wants us to and bond." The old man crosses his arms and looks straight ahead as his son drives.

"Yeah, but you know mom, dad, she'd kill us if we didn't do this!" Lynn Sr. responds, "Do you know what mom did the last time we tried to hide something from her?!"

Immediately, the two older men shiver in fear, before they both shake their heads and whisper, "Poor pony."

The Lynn Sr. sighs, "So can we at least try to have a good time, for mom's sake? We haven't seen each other in eighteen years!"

"Yeah, and why's that son?" Larry counters, "Why did you suddenly leave and take the family van with you? Why did you go out with that girl even though we didn't approve?!"

"Uhh dad and grandpa." Loki speaks up, "I know there's something going on here, but for our sake, care to explain?"

"Who the hell'er you?" The older man responds.

The young man responds, "I'm Loki, the oldest."

Larry hesitates for a moment, "Well I guess you're the reason. They left so long ago." Then the man glances back, "Don't call me grandpa yet, you're not worthy of that yet. Just call me your granddad."

"Ok?" Loki tilts his head in confusion.

"As for what's going on, your grandmother just got me to go out with my wayward son for some odd reason."

Lynn Sr. sighs, "Can we at least try to have some fun dad? Dairy Flags is right here." Then, the man turns the van and parks in an open space. Larry doesn't hesitate to step out and order, "Since we're here, I might as well meet you. Line up!"

And with that, the boys quickly rush out of the van and stand in line from oldest to youngest.

"Well, at least it looks like they have some discipline." Larry mutters, approaching the first brother as he does so, "So you're Loki, the oldest right?"

Loki nods, "Yes sir."

"You look like you've been through a lot. Military School much?" Larry goes.

"Yes sir, I spent four years at Royal Woods Military School." Loki's voice fills with a soft strength, as if he was filled with pride.

Larry glares at his son, "Seriously? Well at least you stopped him from being a complete mistake."

The Loud Father grits his teeth, "Can you please stop calling my kids mistakes!"

"No." Larry flatly responds, before walking over to Loni, "You look like you're good at woodworking."

Loni nods, "Yeah granddad! I love building things! I'm Loni!"

"You're fixing my roof when we get home." The old man responds… only for Loni to give an ecstatic nod, "You got it!"

"I like this kid already." Larry goes. Then he steps over to the next son.

Before Larry can speak up, Luke greets, "Hey granddad, I'm Luke."

"Word of advice, aim for a more masculine color." Larry goes, "You look like you're getting ready to seduce another man."

"Hey!" Luke clenches his fists if the man in front of him were not his grandfather; no doubt he would've hit him with the guitar.

"Shut it." Larry commands, causing Luke to hold his tongue. The old man takes one look at Lane and passes by.

"Uhh, you missed me?" Lane tilts his head in confusion, only for the grandfather to respond, "You're a one-dimensional joker who is trying too hard to be funny. I don't even need to talk to you to figure that out."

Lane drops his arms in shock.

"Now dad, I don't think-" Lynn Sr. speaks up, only for Larry to approach Lynn Jr.

"Well, you look sporty." Larry quips, "What do you do in your free time?"

Lynn Jr. nervously answers, "I uhh, do basketball and football and stuff."

"Now kid, I'm your grandfather, you don't need to be nervous." Then he leans down and feels his arm, "Though with muscles like this, you seem more fit to be a ballerina more than anything else." Lynn Jr.'s face goes red in embarrassment.

"Who's next?" The old man asks, only for Lars to appear in front of him.

"I'm next, I'm Lars." He goes.

Larry remains unfazed, "You look like the creative type, I like you." Then he turns to face the twins, "And who might you two be?"

Leif motions towards himself, "I'm Leif." Only for Lexx to come and pushes him out of the way, "And I'm Lexx."

"From what I can see, I prefer Leif and Lexx seems like a naive fool." Larry then looks at the final boy, "Let me guess, you're a child genius or something."

"Yes." Levi nods. "I am a professor and a respected scientist as well."

"A professor and respected scientist who probably sits in a booster seat and blows bubbles in his chocolate milk float."

"Ok dad, I think that's enough." Lynn Sr. finally speaks up, "Sheesh, I don't need you making my sons feel like they're mistakes!"

"I'm your father, it's my job to screw with you son. After all, I haven't raved on you for leaving for eighteen years." Then, the old man steps forward, "Now let's get this day over with."

And with that, the younger Louds grit their teeth and enter the park.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Leon! Get back here!" Linka shouts as she races into the jungle gym. Leon easily swings from bar to bar, glowing and teleporting a few inches every swing to jump the gaps he can't make.

His older sister on the other hand frantically chases after him, _"On days like this, I wish I had gone with Lynn's sports practice more often."_ Finally, Leon reaches the end and just as he jumps off the last bar, he giggles and teleports again.

"Dangit!" Linka shouts, "What the heck is causing this?!" Then, Linka too jumps up from the jungle gym and lands on the grassy ground below. She darts her eyes around once more, "There you are!"

The young girl gives chase to her brother, who was now crawling along one of the various playsets.

"Come on Leon, I need you!" Linka rushes onto the set as well. And just before she can grab her little brother, the young boy chuckles and teleports again, this time to the opposite end of the set, _"Guide dangit! William, I am going to scream at you!"_ With a quick turn, Linka jumps up and grabs hold of the metal bars that connect the two sections.

She quickly moves from bar to bar, before jumping once more and landing on the opposing platform. "Stop running Leon!"

"Poo-poo!" Leon cheers, before flailing his arms cutely and disappearing again.

"Come catch me?" The girl facepalms in frustration, "Dangit this is getting annoying!" And with another sigh, she carefully looks around, "Where is he this time?"

She slowly moves her eyes around the park, expecting to find her baby brother perched precariously in a tree or waiting for her on another playset… only to find Leon now sitting in one of the nearby baby swings, as if waiting for her to come.

"Phew." Linka goes, before she walks over, "Please don't teleport again Leon, you almost gave me a heart attack with that last one." Then she tries to pull her brother from the swings… only for the young boy to start crying.

Linka thinks for a moment, before smiling, "You want me to push you don't ya?"

"Poo-poo!" Leon goes, before adding some more random baby gibberish to it as well as clapping.

The girl gives a motherly smile and walks behind the baby, "All right Leon, I'll push you, but after this we gotta go ok? I have to find out why you keep teleporting away for no reason!"

The baby smiles and claps his hands in response.

And with a soft push, Linka sends Leon up in the air, and the contraption responds by swinging him back. Linka counters the baby's fall by pushing again and just like a pendulum, the swing set moves back and forth. As for the baby, he laughs in joy while his sister does this.

" _Leon's so much like Lily."_ the girl thinks while she pushes her brother back, _"He's so full of life and energy! Yet… why do I feel like I have to stay for him?"_ Her caring sisterly expression slowly fades into a soft frown, _"Back home, Lily' had to deal with the real Linka… Has she even spent time with her? Lily always loved it when I told her a story to go to sleep to…"_

Then, the young girl looks up and gazes upon the she pushes up in the air. The young boy smiling as if the world around him was as pure as it could be.

*Sigh* Linka goes, "I wonder how things around going back home… After all, a day with Pop-pop is usually more fun than many would expect… I wonder if he's going to try and put her through all that manliness stuff that he had to go through." Slowly Linka looks away, "Now that I think of it, that's the first time I saw her not wearing a dress… I wonder, is she slowly becoming me now?"

"Poo-poo!" Leon shouts, and Linka responds with a soft tone, "You wanna go higher Leon?!"

"Poo-poo!" The baby cheerfully responds and Linka complies by pushing him higher.

*Beep* The Matter Key Watch goes, "Huh?" Linka quickly checks the watch while she pushes the seat once more. _**"Space Waves Detected!"**_ She reads, "Hmm, does this have something to do with the segment?

Leon then suddenly spouts some more random baby gibberish.

"On days like this, I'm glad I asked Luan how to speak baby." Linka quips, before grabbing hold of the chain and slowing Leon's descent, "Ok Leon, it's time to head back, if we're not home soon, mom and dad are going to be worried."

Leon responds with disappointed baby gibberish, yet Linka simply pulls him out of chair.

Suddenly, he goes *hic*.

"Aww, so cute Leon!" Linka goes… only for Leon to glow once more, this time engulfing her as well, "What the?!"

Suddenly, Linka finds herself standing on a tree branch about twenty feet above ground, "What the heck just happened?"

*Hic* Leon goes once more.

And with another glow, Linka finds herself standing on top of the jungle gym once more. "Ok, I think this has something to do with the segment, this just has to." Linka then looks at Leon with worried eyes, "Please stop Leon!"

Leon holds off for a second, before grabbing at the sky. *Hic*

"Dangit." Linka whispers, as her body is engulfed in light once more.

Suddenly she finds herself falling above the town, _"Dangit!"_ She thinks. Her heart and mind race as she watches the earth quickly approach her, _"Think fast!"_

Immediately, the girl hits her watch, _"I don't know what this'll do, but it's better than nothing!"_ Then, with a final button press, the watch glows, and engulfs the duo in Light.

She opens them after that and finds herself standing in the center of a vast field. "What the, where am I?"

In front of her stands a massive horseman with his army behind him. To the man's right is a young woman with long white hair, clad in silver armor. Then, she turns and notices massive storm clouds in the distance, "What the heck?"

She looks down, "Leon, do you know what's going on?" The baby simply shrugs, "Poo-poo."

Suddenly, the world around her melts away and glows, forcing her to shut her eyes once more.

And when she opens them again, she's standing safely on the ground, "Phew, that was intense." She quips.

*Hic!* Leon goes, causing Linka to brace for another teleport… only this time nothing happens.

Linka breathes a sigh of relief with that, "Phew, I guess that's over." Then she looks upon her watch, "And I guess I know what the segment does now."

"Poo-poo?" Leon goes.

"Yeah, let's go home." The girl responds, before turning and tiredly walking back to the nearby home, exhaustion filling her voice.

 _ **Back at Dairy Flags…**_

"Ready, aim, and fire!" Loki declares, pulling the trigger of a CO rifle, punching a hole in the center of the paper target twenty feet away.

"Nice shot son." Lynn Sr. glances back at his father, "Now reload and fire again. You gotta make that second shot."

Larry simply leans back against a nearby wall and watches, _"When did I agree to babysit nine boys and my son?"_

*Pop* the rifle goes once more, before firing another bullet at the target… only to miss the center by about six inches.

"Dangit!" Loki shouts, "Why do I always miss the second shot?!" Then, in frustration, he throws the weapon against the post.

" _Well, I'm not doin' anything."_ Larry thinks, before he breaks and steps over to his son and grandson. "What are you doin'?"

"I'm trying to hit a target center twice. The first always gets centered, but I could never get the second!" Loki goes, his voice filled with annoyance.

Larry thinks for a moment, "Lynn, do you think he's having the same problem you had?"

"What do you mean dad?"

Larry picks up the weapon and hands it to Loki once more, "Show me how you fire and reload."

"Ok." Loki complies and aims at one of the open spaces, before firing. Just like before, the bullet hits a perfect bull's eye before Loki drops the rifle barrel, opens the breach, and loads in another small bolt, before firing a second round… missing the center by six inches once more.

"I see what your problem is." Larry goes.

Lynn Sr. raises an eyebrow in confusion, "Oh really dad? What is it?"

"He's letting the barrel drop too much and then not focusing during the second shot." The old man adjusts the rifle once more and hands it back to Loki, who proceeds to fire it.

After a few test shots, Loki finally nails the second shot, "Awesome Loki, you did it!" Lynn Sr. declares.

"Hmph, you should've known that yourself son, I taught you how to shoot years ago." The grandfather scoffs, "Didn't you teach them how to use a rifle properly?"

"I did." Lynn Sr. goes, "I taught him the way I learned."

"It wasn't good enough then." Larry responds, before turning away and walking towards Lynn Jr.

And so, Lynn Sr. watches as his father repeats the process once again, this time helping Lynn make some baskets in a hoop.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

After spending some playing the various games that Dairy Flags had to offer, The Loud brothers sit down at the food court for some snacks. After all, it's a good idea to eat before you go on a roller coaster!

"Guys, I think dad and granddad need help." Loki goes, his voice filling with concern, "while I was shooting, granddad never seemed angry... he seemed, disappointed."

"Same with me and basketball…" Lynn adds, "He didn't seem like he was mad at me, more annoyed that I couldn't do it…"

"I deduce this has something to do with that fact that he ran away with mother." Levi speaks up. "I suppose that he and dad need to make up before we return home or else grandmother will do something drastic."

"Guys, I have an idea!" Loni cuts in, his voice filling with excitement, "we should..."

"No." Luke goes, "Whatever you're about to say is a horrible idea Loni." He proceeds to strum, this time holding the pic differently, just as his granddad had shown him.

"Aww, give him a chance!" Lars cuts in, "After all, you never know what it could be."

Loni smiles, "Well, we could…"

 _ **A few minutes after that…**_

"Hey! Get back here!" Larry shouts as he chases after Leif, "That's my sweater kid! I need that not covered in mud!"

Leif then turns and bolts into a rather large building decorated with mirrors, and his grandfather doesn't hesitate to chase after him. On the other side, Lane does the same, except with his own father's favorite sweater.

After a few minutes of stumbling around, Leif and Lane easily emerge from the house of mirrors, leaving the father and grandfather alone… together without a clear way out. It only takes them five minutes to run into each other.

"Well this is just great." Larry declares his voice filling with annoyance, while he pulls himself off of the mirror house floor. "Why the heck did your sons throw us in here? Now we're stuck and don't know our way out!"

Lynn Sr. responds, "Yeah, I know the feeling." Then the man puts his hands in front of him and steps forward, "Come on dad, let's try to find out of here. At least then we can just leave this stupid amusement park, but I don't know, what we're going to do about mom, you know how she is with these things."

"If you just hadn't come by, we wouldn't be in this mess." Larry complains, before following his son's motions, "Why did you come anyways? It's been eighteen flippin' years!" Then he turns, "Heck, while you're at it, why don't you tell me why you left in the first place too?"

"Dad, didn't you figure it out?" Lynn says, his voice filling with annoyance, "I didn't want to go today! Rita said that our sons deserve to meet their grandparents and I couldn't say no!"

"Yeah, that's one of the many things you couldn't say no to." Larry quips. "What kinda person has so many kids that they end up barely passing by? I-"

"You know what dad." Lynn Sr. finally cuts off his father, "Rita and I wanted a big family! Didn't you think of that?!" His voice fills with anger, "When Rita was pregnant, we agreed that it would be best if we stay behind, but lo and behold you go off on a tirade saying that she wasn't a good choice! That I had made a mistake!" Then Lynn throws his arms out to his sides, "Well guess what, I owned up to it! And we decided to have more kids!" And then Lynn promptly walks into another mirror.

Larry sighs with that, "Son, this isn't about how many kids you had Lynn. It's about you having them beyond your means to support them! You have eleven kids now!" The grandfather then proceeds to turn and stumble into another mirror

Yet, the man's son wasn't backing down, "I would've come to ask you for help, dad, but after what you did, Rita and I decided that it would be better if we went on our own." The man grits his teeth, "If you were really concerned about us, why didn't you call? I never changed my number!" The man the finishes, "And all you've done today was insult my parenting."

Grandpa Lynn grits his teeth, "I cared, I wanted you to come home of your own accord, I wanted-"

"Well we took it as you not caring." Lynn coldly goes, "And now, I'm stuck in a House of Mirrors with you, on a trip I didn't want to go on! You say you care? No you didn't! It's been eighteen years and not once have you ever even 'thought' of calling! What? Did your 'pride as a man' stop you from seeing your grandchildren? Do you blame them for how we live? My granddaughter wondered why we never visit her grandparents. This is why. I knew that this would happen. You were always like this dad."

For a moment, the two stand silent, unsure of how to continue the argument.

*Sigh* Larry goes with a defeated tone, "You even scold me like your mother. You look like me, but you talk like her. You have her name. And before this you acted just like her. You were so unlike me growing up I..."

"Get to the point dad." Lynn Sr. mutters, not even bothering to look at his father.

"I was actually proud of you for sticking up for the girl. We were hoping you'd come back sooner, but…" Larry stops his thought and continues in a more commanding voice, "I'm still sticking to my guns about the kids. You were too young to have Loki. And you shouldn't have more than you can support comfortably," Larry sighs once more, "but that's just me calling the kettle black. I just had a few of you. The fact that you've raised 11 even with all those issues without any help… while it might not have been smart. It's damn impressive." He looks his son in the eyes as he finishes, "I wanted to make sure you would be tough for what ever came next. And for what it's worth, I'm proud of you son."

Lynn Sr. smiles, "Took you long enough dad."

"Yes, it did. Now let's get outta here." Larry responds.

And with that, the two fathers make their way out of the maze of mirrors, this time, without an argument… or bumping into too many mirrors.

 _ **Later…**_

"That was awesome!" Loki quips as he steps into his grandfather's home.

"I'll admit son, you did a good job raising these boys…" Larry sighs, "Maybe you running away all those years ago was for the better."

Lynn Sr. raises an eyebrow, "Really dad?"

The old man nods, "But don't let it get to your head."

The younger man smiles, "Thanks."

"Hey, where's Linka?" Loni asks, "Wasn't she home with mom and grandma?"

"Oh, she's upstairs." Grandma Lynn speaks up, "We're in the kitchen talking, Linka was so tired from taking care of Leon that she went upstairs and passed out."

Immediately, the brothers as well as the dads rush upstairs in a soft panic, and they find both Linka and Leon asleep on top of their grandparents' bed. With Leon's baby blanket covering both of them and the little guy sucking his thumb in his sleep as he cuddles his sister who he sleeps on top of.

"Aww." The brothers go, before pulling back and slowly closing the door. And with that, the men head downstairs once more.

"Lynn." Larry grabs his younger son's shoulder, "I know I can't excuse my previous behavior, but I'm proud of you. You seem to be doin' good for yourself and your kids, even though I didn't approve of the union."

"Thanks dad." The man smiles and nods, "And I have to admit, if it wasn't for you pushing so hard and teaching me, I doubt I would've learned how to be a good father for my sons."

Now, Lawrence Loud isn't one for emotion, but even he can't help, but to give his son a small smile in approval.

"Well it looks like you guys had fun." Grandma Lynn declares as she approaches the group, "Now as long as we don't wake those two upstairs. I think it's my turn to get to know my grandsons."

The boys smile and nod, and with that, they head out once more.

9 23-15-14-4-5-18 9-6 20-8-5-18-5 9-19 1 18-21-12-5 19-9-24-20-25 20-8-18-5-5 1-12-2-5-18-20. 8-5-'4 16-18-15-2-1-2-12-25 2-5 6-21-14!

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! I apologize if this seems rushed in any way, school's getting in the way again. As always, I thank the people who helped me out with this chapter: Wolvenstrom, Sunblast-X and Exotos135. Thanks! And thank you all for supporting me!**

 **Due to school, I'll move updates back to Sundays to keep up.**


	17. Le Jour des Cœurs

**A/N Hey guys! I'm back as per the usual, and just as promised I'm updating on Sunday! I hope you enjoy this Valentine's Day special!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: What happens around Valentine's Day in the D-63i'\ Loud House. (Done for Valentine's Day. Dialogue and scene prompts by Wolvenstrom).**_

Story Seventeen: Le Jour des Cœurs

"La la la la!" The young white-haired girl sings, "Today's gonna be a great day! La la la la! Today's gonna be a great day!" Then, she carefully molds the dough she had prepared, before placing the result on a cooking tray, "Got some snacks and a pint of cola! Oh oh whoa oh, today's gonna be a great day!"

After that, the young girl turns and faces a small red jar, _"Dangit! I'm going to need…"_ She carefully moves her hand closer to the jar, _"Those succulent… sweet… delicious… chocolate chips…"_ She licks her lips in anticipation. _"Come on Lincoln! You need to get a hold of yourself! You need to finish these cookies for… him."_ Her cheeks go red as she is filled with embarrassment.

 _"No! You're just going to hang out with the most… dreamy… nice… kind… handsome boy you've ever met."_ Linka's heart begins to race as her mind fills with the idea of spending a day with the young man. _"Nope! He's just a friend! That you've kissed… dangit Linka what's wrong with you?!"_ Immediately, the young girl grabs the bright red jar and dumps the contents on the tray, covering the snack in chocolate.

Linka's eyes go wide with that, _"keep your cool Linka, you don't need to eat all the chocolate…"_ Then she takes one of the chocolate chips and throws it in her mouth… before grabbing a handful and eating those as well.

After that she chews and smiles, _"Heh, I guess being a chocoholic isn't that bad, after all, I don't have to fight ten sisters at least!"_

"Hey Linka." Rita greets as she walks into the kitchen, "How's the cookin' going? It is your first time preparing snacks after all." Then the woman rubs her chin, "Now that I think about it, why are you making this stuff anyway?"

The young girl smiles, "It's because I'm goin' on a picnic with a friend and I wanna make sure we have plenty to eat!"

"Uh-huh." Her mother responds, "Is there something you wanna tell me Linka? After all it seems that you're making quite the meal for just one friend."

"What are you talkin' about mom?" Linka tilts her head in confusion, "I just made a few things. It's not like I made a hamburger that eats people!"

"Yes, that's true." Her mother responds, before putting on a soft, caring smile, "But you did make some heart-shaped burgers." Then she points to the stove, which had several patties formed and cooking, "Care to explain?"

Linka rubs the back of her head, "Oh those? They're just for the heart-shaped buns I made." She puts on a nervous smile, "I haven't gotten around to making the heart-shaped tomatoes and lettuce, and I have to add the cheese when they're cooked. No big deal." While she thinks, _"My burgers are Ron Andy's favorite… I hope he likes these…"_

"Haha!" Rita rubs her daughter's hair, "Come on, why don't you tell me what's really goin'? I'm your mother after all." The woman quickly looks from side to side, before whispering, "You can tell me anything. I won't tell your father."

"Nope!" The young girl immediately responds, "I just wanted to make some heart shaped stuff is all!"

"Oh really now?" Rita chuckles, "Even the heart-shaped cookies?" She motions at the dough that had been shaped into perfect Valentine Hearts. "Plus, the fact that there's chocolate still on them means you've been fighting your chocoholic urges."

Linka puts on a sheepish smile, "It's nothing! I just want these to be special and stuff!"

"Hmm." Rita rubs her chin, "So it's either you're doing something for Heart Disease awareness day or…" The woman continues with a cheerful singsong voice, "Someone's hoping that a certain someone's gonna to take her to the Valentine's Day Dance I heard the boys talking about!"

"I uhh…" Linka's face goes red with blush, "It's nothing! It's not like the boy I like is the friend I'm going on the picnic with! It's not big deal mom!"

"Haha!" Rita laughs, "Don't try to lie Linka, I said the same thing when I was your age." Then the woman squats down to her daughter's height, "So who's the lucky boy? I'm sure he will love to dance with you!"

"Dance?!" Lynn Sr. shouts, "Did I hear someone mention a dance?!" Then his eyes fall upon his only daughter, "It's almost Valentines Day. Are you going to a valentine's dance?! Are you planning on asking somebody? Are you already making plans?! Do you already have a date?!" Then, the man grabs hold of his daughter and begins shaking her, as he continuing with a frantic voice, "Is a boy going with you?! Who is he?! When I find him I'll-"

"Lynn Bertram Loud Junior!" Rita shouts, cutting her husband off… only for Lynn Sr. to turn to her, unfazed by her attempt, "Uhh, honey, that only works if you have a sort of tranquil fury behind it."

Rita pinches the bridge of her nose, before continuing, "Our daughter would like you to let go of her now."

"Huh?" the man goes, before looking and realizing just how hard he was holding onto Linka, "Oh…" He quickly lets go of his only daughter, before adjusting his sleeves and continuing in a fatherly voice, "Linka, you know you're too young to go to a dance!"

"But dad!" Linka goes, "I-"

"Lynn," Rita cuts in, "It's a Valentine's Day Dance for kids her age. She'll be fine!

"But Rita, by the sound of it, there are going to be kids on dates!" The man holds his hands up and begins motioning around what could happen, "I know that girls grow faster than boys, but my baby girl is still too young to deal with boys!"

"Mmm hmm," Rita crosses her arms, "I seem to recall a certain someone's father saying he was too young to go to his first Valentine's Day dance too, so he just went anyway under the guise of going out with friends."

"That was different Rita." Lynn throws his arms up as he does so.

"How so?" his wife counters.

The man hesitates for a moment, before gritting his teeth in defeat. Then with a soft sigh he regains his composure, "Do I at least know the boy?"

Linka's face goes red once again, before she stammers, "What boy?! There's no boy!"

Rita holds her hand over her mouth and chuckles, "Aww, she's already covering for him!"

"Sweetie, we can do this the easy way or the easier way. " Lynn speaks with a soft, fatherly voice… only for Rita to respond, "Actually Loni's going to be away with his club for a bit. So asking him is a no go."

" _Phew."_ Linka mentally wipes sweat from her brow. _"While Loni is nowhere near as big a tattletale as Lola, if you tell him a secret while not telling him it's a secret… he'll spill everything!"_

"Dangit." Lynn Sr. whispers. "Now how are we going to-"

That's when Loki walks in on his phone.

He quickly looks up and spots his sister, "Hey Linka, great." He shoves the device in his pocket, before continuing, "Listen Bebe asked me to have lunch with her at the new Italian place at the mall and she wanted to know if you wanted to double up and go with," The young man then looks up… only to be met by his father's waiting eyes, "Rrrrraaa… uhh…"

And with that, Lynn Sr. stares at his eldest son, who put on a sheepish smile while Linka does the same.

"Ra who Loki?" Lynn Sr. asks, a cold authority filling his voice.

"No one dad!" Loki responds, desperate to keep the secret.

"Wait. Didn't you tell us that Bebe had a little brother with an R name? Roberto? Romeo? Rascal? Richard? Rich? Rocky? Rat? Remy? Ronaldo?" Rita speaks up.

The flinch at the name Ronaldo was all the confirmation their father needed for the air in the room to start filling with an uncomfortable heat.

"I see. Your girlfriend's little brother has his eye on your little sister." Lynn Sr. then looks at his daughter, "And Linka here seems to like him back."

"Aww that's adorable!" Rita goes, "I remember my first love!"

Lynn Sr. facepalms, "Ugh, when's he supposed to come? I need to make sure a few things are clear before you do anything with him." The man's voice fills with defeat

Linka gives a nervous smile in response; "He's supposed to be coming along any minute now…"

Then man then turns to his eldest son, "Loki, make sure your brothers know to be ready, got that?"

Loki nods, "Yes sir." And with that, he turns and walks out of the kitchen. Lynn Sr. takes one final look at his daughter, before turning and walking out as well.

" _Why do I have a bad feeling about what's about to happen?"_ Linka then sigh.

"Don't worry Linka." Rita assures, placing her hands on her daughter's shoulders as she does so, "He's doing this cause he loves you." Then she stands up, "Now, why don't you finish preparing for the picnic? It may be winter, but the weather makes it feel like spring." And with that, Rita steps out of the room as well.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Ok you can do this Ron." Ron Andy whispers, "There's absolutely nothing that can go wrong." He takes a deep breath, "She's just the girl of your dreams! You've kissed her in public! You've gone places with her before! She seems to like you back!" he looks at his left hand as it clutches his bag, _"Why am I so worried?!"_

"Hey Ron, something bugging you?" Cristopher asks, "You look like you're about to storm the beaches of Normandy, getting married, or about to a business meeting."

"Nothing Cris, I'm just nervous about asking Linka out to the dance." The boy looks at his companion, "After all, she likes me too, but I'm still afraid she'll say no or something."

"Calm down mate. You've done stuff with her before!" Cristopher looks forward and gives a soft chuckle; "After all, you've hugged and kissed her in public! You've helped her with bullies! Heck, you've even gone shopping with her! You'll be fine!"

Ron smiles, "Thanks Cris." Then he looks forward and puts his hands behind his head, "So how about you mate? Who are you planning on askin' to the dance?"

Immediately Cristopher's face goes bright red and he stammers, "Oh uhh, I uhh, no one in particular I, umm."

"Haha!" Ron Andy goes, "It's Claudia isn't it?!" He then playfully punches his friend, "Bro, just ask her out, I think she likes you!"

"What, you really think so?" The boy responds.

"Yeah bro. Plus, it couldn't hurt to just ask her out." Ron Andy then smiles.

"But she's into girls isn't she?" Cristopher looks down in disappointment, "But she did kiss me… so I'm not sure."

"Remember what she said about that?" Ron Andy goes, before the duo turns onto a familiar block.

"Don't think about it?" Cristopher responds.

Ron Andy nods, "Yeah, just don't think about it and just ask her, the worse she can do is say no."

And with that, the two boys stop in front of 1216 Franklin Avenue, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to ask a certain white-haired girl out for the night of her life." And with that he steps forward and walks up to the door.

"Good luck mate!" Cristopher shouts, "Just remember: if you get cold feet you can call her from behind this bush!" Ron Andy glances back to his friend once more, before raising his fist and knocks on the red wooden door, silently hoping that his hand doesn't break through… again.

" _Here we go."_ The boy think as a soft *click* emanates from the door in front of him… revealing the father of the girl he sought to go out with.

"Uhh, hi there Mr. Loud." Ron nervously greets, "You look well today!"

The man stands before him in silence for a moment, before greeting, "Hello, are you Ron Andy?"

"Yes…" His voice trails off, "It's nice to meet you!"

The man stares at the boy with judging eyes, before stepping aside and motioning for him to enter, "Come inside, I have to talk to you before you do anything with my daughter, got that?"

Ron nervously nods, before entering the Loud Residence. Lynn Sr. scans the area for a second and slams the door shut.

"Good luck Ron." Cristopher whispers, before stepping out from the bushes and dusting himself off, "Now I just have to…"

"Hey Cristopher!" Claudia runs over, "What are you doin' here?"

Immediately Cristopher's face goes red in embarrassment, "Oh uhh hi Claudia." He then rubs the back of his face and stammers, "I'm just uhh, here because Ron uhh…"

Claudia looks at the boy in annoyance has he continues spouting random gibberish. "Dude, calm down. You're acting like you saw another weird fanfic of us or something."

Immediately the boy's face gets even redder, "I- I didn't! I uh…" Then he sighs, "Hey Claudia."

"Good." The girl responds, "Now, why're you here?"

The boy rubs the back of his head, "I was just with Ron… he was just about to ask Linka to go to the Valentine's Day Dance with him."

"Huh, ok then." Claudia goes, before turning around, "Well since our friends are busy, do you wanna, I don't know, hang out or something?"

The boy's face goes red again, "Are you sure Claudia? I uhh, I mean would you rather way for Linka?"

Claudia shrugs, "It's not like it's a date or something. Plus you, as well as I, know that when those two start hanging out together, they won't stop until someone comes in and forcefully separate them."

"Good point…" Cristopher responds, before taking a deep breath and nodding, "Sure Claudia, let's hang out."

And with that, the girl grabs hold of his hand, "Cool."

Then they walk away.

 _ **A few minutes later...**_

Ron Andy sits directly across from Lynn Sr. at the adult table. The man stares at the boy with determination, causing a patriarchal atmosphere to overtake the room.

"Let's start shall we." The man declares, before pulling out a small, black notebook.

The young boy looks at the man in fear, but chooses not to speak up, no doubt out of fear. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Linka preparing the picnic they had planned to go on, while her ten brothers stood in behind the family patriarch.

"What is your full name, kid?" The man's voice is filled with a commander's strength.

"Uhh…" The boy starts, causing Lynn Sr. To glare at him in annoyance. Yet, the boy pushes passed his fears, "My name is Ron Andy… sir."

"Full name son. I want your full legal name." The man immediately responds, his demeanor remaining hard.

Ron Andy hesitates for a moment, unsure whether or not to be offended, "Uhh, my full legal name?"

"Yes, stop stalling and answer." Lynn Sr. goes; while the ten brothers glare at him in a judgmental annoyance… save for Loki, who just looks at him in annoyance.

"Uhh… My full legal name is Ronald Andres Nicolao-Prospero Garcia-Shapiro Santiago." The boy sits up straight, desperate not to break down in fear.

Lynn Sr. then turns and looks at Loki, "Is he tellin' the truth son?"

"Yeah dad." Loki calmly responds, while not breaking eye contact with Ron.

"Good." The man quickly jots down some notes, before continuing, "Got a criminal record?"

Ron shakes his head, "No sir."

"How did you meet my daughter?" Lynn Sr. leans in intently as do the boys.

" _I'm going to die…"_ Ron thinks, before he takes a deep breath. The room fills with tension as he answers the father; "I used to well… be the class bully."

Lynn Sr. clenches his fists, as do the brothers.

" _I'm not surprised."_ He continues with a regretful tone, "I never bothered her though. I only messed with the other boys…" He looks the man in the eyes, "But then, one day, she stood up to me to protect one of her male friends."

"Hmm?" The man stares at him, "And?"

Ron Andy nervously rubs his arm as he continues, "After that… I began to well… notice her more… her beautiful blue eyes… her majestic white hair… how nice she was to everyone…" He takes another deep breath, "So after that, when this mean girl in our class, Chandler, tried to bully her I decided to stick up for her." A nostalgic smile begins to form on the boy's face, "Heh… so we decided to spend some time together. And we ended up dating."

"I see." Lynn Sr. declares, "And for how long have you been dating my daughter?"

"About nine months at this point." The boy rubs the back of his head once again.

"What do you think boys? Do you give him permission to date your sister?" Lynn Sr. turns to the ten boys waiting behind him. The young men's expressions are filled with a fatherly determination as they nod in agreement.

"Very well." The man declares, before going under the table and pulling out a baseball bat, "I'll let you continue dating my daughter Ron Andy." His voice fills with a solemn authority, "But so help me, if you break Linka's heart-"

The brothers crack their knuckles while Lynn Sr. raises the bat, "So help me I will shove this baseball bat up your arse so far, it'll come out the other end, got that punk?"

Ron Andy frantically nods in response, "Yes sir!"

"Good." The man turns to his sons, "All of you are dismissed, prepare choco-shortage protocol." He grits his teeth, "With Valentine's Day coming up and the amount of young, hormonal, women that will probably pass through this home, we're going to need a chocolate reserve to stay safe.

The boys nod in affirmation, before filing out of the room, leaving Lynn Sr. alone with his daughter's admirer.

"This is your only warning." Lynn Sr. coldly mutters, before turning, and following his sons out the room.

The young boy's heart races in fear, as he stands up, turns around and enters the kitchen.

"Hey Ron!" Linka greets, as she calmly places the heart-shaped burgers in her picnic basket.

"Uhh, hey Linka." He responds, nervously rubbing the back of his head, "So, uhh, how's the picnic lookin'?"

The girl turns to Ron with a beaming smile, "I've finished everything! Just get your sweater on and we'll be set to go!" Then she steps over and grabs a red button-down sweater and drown hat off the coat rack, "You ready to go?"

Ron looks passed the girl for a moment, and notices Loki peering over the corner, "Yeah Linka, I'm ready to go." And with that, the boy picks up the basket, and secures his own backpack, "Huh, this feels like you made a ton of food!"

"Course!" The girl holds her hands together, "We are goin' on a picnic!" Then she playfully punches the boy, "Now come on! We're burnin' daylight!"

And with that, the duo turns and walks out of the home.

Loki sticks his head out the Loud Residence door… followed by the rest of the Loud Bros.

"We're going to follow her, right?" Leif steps out into the lukewarm winter day.

"Of course Leif." Loki responds, "Sister is on a date protocol is now in effect!"

Luke then strums, before continuing, "Man your stations!"

And with that, the brothers follow the duo.

 _ **A few minutes after that…**_

Despite the beautiful weather, the Royal Woods Park is deserted. Oddly enough, the lack of snow should have attracted many residents… not that Linka and Ron minded.

"So that's what you needed that pony for?" Linka throws her head in laughter, "I never thought you could do that!"

"Heh." Ron Andy steps into the park, "Don't worry, I've seen people do even crazier things with a pony, some duel monsters cards, string and can of cola." Then he looks at the girl walking along side him and adjusts his grip on the basket, "So, where do you think we should have this picnic?"

Linka scans the park for a moment, before pointing at a random part of the grassy field, "How about there? It looks pretty comfy!"

"Sure Linka." He responds, before dropping the basket. And within a few minutes, the duo has their picnic entirely set up.

"So what'd you make Linka?" Ron asks.

The girl responds by digging into the basket, "Let's see…" Then she pulls out a heart-shaped cheeseburger wrapping in tin foil, "One of my cheeseburgers!"

Ron's eyes go wide as he takes the sandwich in hand, "You made me one of your burgers?!"

Linka nods, "Yeah!" She looks away and blushes, "After all, what kinda picnic would this be if I didn't bring something you love…"

Ron Andy blushes as well, before dropping his backpack and digging into it, "I know it's nothing like one of your burgers but…" Then, he pulls out a small, red, heart-shaped box, "I got you white chocolate, your favorite."

The girl's eyes go wide in surprise, "I… I don't know what to say Ron." Then she takes the box in hand.

"How about, try them first." Ron smiles, as he unwraps the burger, "After all, you need to taste them before you can tell me how you feel!"

"Heh, good point Ron." Then, the young girl pulls the fabric bow off the box, before carefully pulling the lid off, revealing several white chocolate treats all cubed up for her. Her heart races as she fights the urge two simply scoop them all up and down them in a single volley. _"Why doesn't this feel weird at all? Why am I enjoying this so much?!"_ Then, with a careful movement, she takes one in hand and simply pops it in.

The white chocolate treat wastes no time melting in her mouth, its sweet taste filling her mouth with joy, _"I don't care! Screw it!"_ She closes her eyes and smiles from the feeling.

"Haha! I guess it's safe to say you liked them!" Ron quips.

Linka then responds by throwing her arms around the boy, "I love it Ron! You're the best!"

"Haha! Only the best for my girl." Her responds, before returning the hug.

Then, she breaks the embrace, and pulls out a small zip-lock bag, "I've got something else too! Cookies!"

Ron smiles before taking the bag and pulling out a treat, "Heh, awesome Linka, you're the best." He then munches on the treat, "Heart shaped and chocolate chip?! You shouldn't have!"

"I know, I know. I had to fight the urge to eat them all, but I managed!" Linka closes her eyes and rubs the back of her head nervously, _"Now that I think of it, why am I going along with this so easily? The picnic, this date? It all feels… so oddly right."_

The duo looks at each other with that. Their hearts race as they lean in closer and lay a soft, kiss on each other's lips.

A million thoughts run through the girl's head just as before, and yet, they all end with the same image: of herself kissing the boy of her dreams.

After that, the couple breaks up and begins to simply talk. They feel no need to do anything else, given that life in Royal Woods was more than interesting enough to fill their time.

Eventually, the sun begins to set over the town, signaling that it was time to head home.

"I guess it's time to head home Ron." Linka declares as she turns to the boy, "After the crazy things that have happened in the past few months, I guess this was a nice change of pace."

"Agreed Linka." Ron stretches as he stands up. Then he goes into his bag once more, "By the way… there's something I've been meaning to as you…" The boy awkwardly rubs the back of his head.

"Yeah?" Linka turns to face the boy. Her heart races in anticipation for what this could possibly mean, _"Oh my, he's going to ask me to the dance! He's really going to do it! He's going to ask me out!"_

The boy looks the girl in her eyes as he continues, "I wanted to know if you… well… if you wanted to…"

The girl's eyes go wide in anticipation.

"If you wanted to go to the Valentine's Day dance with me?" The boy then shows off the overly pink flier covered in random hearts

Linka doesn't hesitate to throw her arms around the boy, "Yes! Of course I'll go with you!" Then, she places a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Awesome." Ron returns the hug, "Now, it's getting late, let's get out of here."

And with that, the duo packs up their romantic picnic and leaves the park.

 _ **Later…**_

*Yawn* Ron Andy goes as he walks into his simply home. "Hey Bebe, I'm home!"

*Squeal!* The boy's elder sister goes, before she rushes down his home stairs, "You did it! You asked Linka Loud out!" Then she throws her arms around boy and lifts him up.

"Uhh sis…" Ron nervously responds, "Yeah, what about it? I wanted to take her and stuff anyways."

"OMG! I'm going to have to find you something nice to wear! I'm gonna have to find something you can wear! Hmm, I think I-"

"Bebe!" Ron shouts, "You don't have to help me!"

Yet, the girl, simply carries him up the stairs, "You are going on a date! Of course you're gonna need my help!"

"But Linka likes me just the way I am!" He counters, "She never mentioned wanting me to dress up for the dance! It's casual wear and stuff!"

Bebe simply responds by laughing, "All girls say they don't care when in fact every single detail matters! I heard from Loki that Linka made a romantic picnic just for you! She wants only the best!"

A wave of dread begins to overtake the boy, _"Is… is she right? Am I not ready for her? No…"_ He shakes his head, before sighing, "Fine Bebe, what do you suggest I do?"

His sister rubs her chin for a moment, before snapping her fingers, "Ok, I know just what we're going to need to do." Then she carries the young boy into her bedroom, "I'm going to start your make over! And if the Loud Brothers come, they'll help us out too!"

" _Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?"_ Ron thinks, as Bebe drops him on her bed and pulls out a cute orange shirt.

" _Oh no…"_

Well this doesn't bode well for him.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"I'm home!" Linka declares as she opens the door to her home…. Only to be met by her eagerly waiting ten brothers. "Uhh, did I miss anything?"

Loki steps forward, "So how did it go?"

Linka shrugs, before walking into the home and shutting the door behind her, "It was fine guys." Then she pulls out the flier for the Valentine's Dance, "He asked me if I would go with him to the dance and stuff."

The bros immediately start looking at each other, a soft, authoritative air overtaking them.

It only takes Linka a moment to realize what they are thinking, "Guys! I don't need you meddling with this!" She throws her arms in front of her, "Ron Andy is a nice boy! He's not going to do anything bad!" Then she looks away and rubs her arm.

"No problem Linka." Luke goes, "We won't mess with him unless he hurts you." Then Loki continues, "Why don't you get some sleep? After all, you've just came from an all day outing and you must be tired!"

Linka yawns with that, "Ugh… sure guys." And with that, she walks passed them and up the stairs to her room, leaving the brothers behind.

"So, are we actually going to not interfere?" Levi calmly asks, before pulling out a notebook. "Because if our previous patterns of behavior are any indication, we're going to do something in the next ten minutes."

"Bingo Levi." Loki declares, "Just because Ron Andy is Bebe's little bro, he may not be ready to take Linka to a dance." Then he pulls out his phone and begins texting.

Leif then speaks, "So we're going to head over to Ron Andy's and make sure he knows how to treat Linka."

The brothers nod in agreement, before promptly walking out of the home.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

Loki knocks on the door to his girlfriend's. His nine brothers stand behind him, all sporting looks of determination.

"Who is it?" Bebe calmly asks, and Loki responds, "It's me, Boo-boo Bear! And we're here for you-know-who!"

Immediately, the young woman opens the door and motions for the brothers to come inside. "You guys know what to do right?"

"Of course Bebe." Luke responds, "Who better to teach your little bro how to take care of our sis, than her brothers?!"

"True." Bebe shrugs, "Ok, in the meantime I'll be working on Linka's dress and the clothes for Ron, ok?" Then she turns and shouts, "Hey Ron, there are some guys here for you!"

"Coming!" The young boy responds, before emerging from his room and turning the corner, coming face-to-face with Linka's ten brothers.

"Poo-poo!" Leon shouts, pointing at Ron as he does so.

"Why do I have a bad feeling abut this?" Ron goes, before stepping down the stairs and greeting, "Uhh, hey guys, why are you here so late? I have school in the morning and stuff."

Loni then nonchalantly steps forward and goes, "We're here to make sure you're ready to take Linka on the night of her life! After all, just because she likes you and stuff, doesn't mean you're going to have an easy time with her!"

"So you're about to have a **date**! Of a time!" Lane throws his head back in laughter, "Get ready Ron!"

Ron gulps again, "I'm going to die aren't I?"

"If you hurt our sister yes." Lexx steps forward.

Then Levi scribbles down something quickly, "Let's begin shall we?"

 _ **The next day…**_

"I'm so excited Claudia!" Linka declares, "I can't believe that Ron asked me out!" She squeals in delight before turning and opening her locker up.

Claudia, instead of responding, simply continues to daydream.

"Hey Claudia." Linka snaps her fingers in front of her best friend's face, "Earth to Claudia!"

Immediately, the dark-skinned girl flinches, "Huh, oh, uhh, what were you saying Linka?"

Linka smiles, "So Cristopher's on your mind huh?"

Immediately, Claudia's face goes red, "What?! No! Just because he asked me to go to the Valentine's Dance with me doesn't mean I'm going to be overly excited for it! Who do you take me for?!"

"Haha!" The white-haired girl goes, before playfully punching Claudia, "Congrats Claudia! Did you accept?! Are you going tomorrow?!"

The girl smiles, "Yeah Linka, I'm going." Then she too opens her locker, "And from your excitement, I suppose Ron asked you out too huh?"

"Yep!" Then Linka quickly packs up her bag and turns. "Now time to head to class!" And immediately, she spots the boy that had asked her just the day before. Linka's heart races as she runs over and greets, "Ron Andy! How're ya doin'?!"

Immediately, the sweater-clad boy flinches, "Uhh…" but instead of replying, he turns and runs away.

" _What the? What's going on with him?"_ Then she gives chase to the boy, "Ron Andy wait! What's going on?! Why are you running all of a sudden?!"

The boy turns and rushes down another corridor, causing him to go out of the white-haired girl's sight for a moment, _"You're not getting away until you answer me Ron!"_ Then, she turns the corridor as well… only to run into a familiar redhead.

*Oof!* she goes, as she falls to the floor.

"Watch where you're-" The boy starts, before looking at who he had just ran into, "Oh, hey Linka."

"Hey Cristopher. Sorry about that. Did you see where Ron Andy went? He just started running away from me for some reason!"

Cristopher shrugs, "Sorry Linka, I saw him run that way." Then he motions at the hallway behind him, "But I haven't talked to him all day, he seemed very shaken up the last time I saw him." He looks at the girl with skeptical eyes, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you?"

Linka shrugs, "No… he asked me to the Valentine's Dance yesterday so I don't know why he just started running."

"I see." Cristopher goes, before standing up and helping the girl to her feet as well. "Well, if I see him later I talk to him ok?"

"Thanks Cris." Linka responds, "And good luck with Claudia, she seemed excited to be going to the dance with you."

Cristopher's face goes red with blush, "Oh that." He nervously rubs the back of his head, "Haha! She's excited, I didn't think she would be!" Then he softens his expression, "Anyways, see ya later!" And with that, the boy walks down the hall.

" _Strange I guess… I never expected Cristopher and Claudia to be a thing."_ Then she shrugs, before steeling her gaze and looking forward, _"But that doesn't matter now. Right now I have to figure out what's going on with Ron!"_

*Beep* *Beep* the watch suddenly goes.

"What the?" The young girl takes a look, _**"Dimension Waves Detected!"**_ Her heart races once again, _"Wait… I just bumped into Cristopher… does this mean that he is connected to the next fragment somehow?!"_ She then shakes her head; _"I'll figure this out later."_ And with that, she steels herself once more, before stepping forward and rushing through the halls once more.

It take her half of their break period to track down the boy she so sought, but when she finally catches up to him, he's cornered in a mass of lockers.

"Ron!" she shouts, as she approaches him, before dropping to catch her breath, "What the heck is going on, why are you running from me?!"

"Sorry Linka." He goes quickly, "I just…" Then he looks away, before rubbing the back of his head, "I just… I think things are going too fast right now and think we need to spend some time apart…"

"Wait what?!" Linka's eyes go wide in shock, "But Ron, the dance? I-"

"Look… I know you like and stuff…" Then he rubs his arm and looks away, "I'm sorry… I just can't yet… I'm not ready to take you. Please, I need you to understand that."

"But, Ron…" Linka's eyes begin to fill with tears, "I- I love you… please you don't have to do this! Why are you doing this?!"

The boy takes a deep breath, "Your brothers spent all night teaching me how to take care of you and I realized that well… I'm not ready for this stuff… I want you to be happy but… I just can't do it yet."

Ron Andy's words hit Linka like mini arrows.

Yet he still continues, "Last night… I heard Bebe talking about what hair color our children would have… about how everything seemed to work perfectly." Then he looks her in the eyes, "She even started planning the wedding." He then takes another deep breath, "Even your brothers threatened me several times that if I didn't get this right they'd pummel me…"

With soft tears slowly bubbling up, Ron turns and declares, "I'm sorry Linka." And with that, he walks passed the white-haired girl, leaving her alone in the hallway.

Linka can feel her heart shatter with that, as if the world itself had taken what she held dear and threw it off a cliff, before dropping boulders on it for no other reason than to make her feel. _"Linka, why does this hurt so much?! You're a guy in a girl's body, right? You… you don't actually have feelings for him! He's… your body is just trying to…"_

She then wipes the tears from her eyes, sniffles a few more times, and continues on with the day.

For the girl, school passes by within seconds and it only takes her a few moments to open the door to her home.

"Hey Linka." Levi goes, "How was-"

"I need chocolate, lot's and lots of white chocolate." She declares, before continuing on her way.

"Oh no…" Levi goes, before pulling out a small radio, "This is Brainy Loud. I seems Linka has entered a heartbreak-infused depression. We are currently at chocolate defcon three. Make sure to keep all chocolate out of the house until resolution."

" _ **This is blue leader, I copy. Who's the idiot boy who broke… freakin' Ron Andy broke her heart didn't he?"**_ Loki's voice fills with anger as he continues, _**"When I get my hands on that little idiot, I'm going to make him wish he never met her!"**_

" _ **Don't worry Loki. Lexx, Lars, Lynn and I already have the shovels ready!"**_

And with that, the brothers begin their manhunt for the poor Ron Andy.

 _ **Later…**_

"Hey Linka, is something bothering you?" Lynn Sr. peaks inside his daughter's bedroom, "You've been in here for the past three hours just eating that chocolate."

Linka shoves another bar in her mouth, "I'm ok dad. Don't worry, everything's just fine!" She then proceeds to shove more chocolate in her mouth, as if she was trying to drown out her pain with the stuff.

"You know I'm not going to leave until you answer me." The father declares, running his hand through his daughter's long, white hair, "Now how about you tell me what's goin' on so I can help ya?"

"Ron broke up with me!" Linka declares, her voice filling with despair.

A tranquil fury begins to overtake the man, "Do you know why he did it Linka?"

Linka shoves another bar in her mouth; "He said that he felt things ere going too fast after he spent the night working with the boys." Then she pulls out a tissue and wipes her nose, "I thought things weren't going just right though!"

If there is one thing Lynn Sr. hates, it's boys trying to date his daughter. But if there is one thing he can't stand, it's to see his only daughter crying over a boy.

He takes a deep breath, before continuing with a solemn authority, "Rita! I'm going to need your help with this!"

 _ **A few minutes after that…**_

"So, care to explain yourselves boys?" Rita pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration, before she looks up at the boys.

All ten of her sons sat in the living room, while Ron Andy stands off to the side, bruised, battered, and slightly dirt-covered, but nonetheless still alive.

"We were getting Ron for breaking Linka's heart!" Leif stands up, "He made her cry!"

Rita glares at the Hispanic boy, "Care to explain yourself Ron?"

The young boy takes a deep breath, "I… I broke up with her…" He rubs his arm, "Because I was worried that things were just moving too fast between us…" His voice fills with a slight fear, "I mean after that night, you told me that I needed to take everything into account for this dance…" Then Ron shoves his hands into his pockets, "All I wanted to do was take the girl I like out for a night…"

The woman takes a deep breath, "I see." She kneels down and places her hands on his shoulders, "I have a feeling that you're going to be a great boy for Linka. But you've gotta stick up for her more, you-"

"With all due respect… I kissed her in public a few times…" He looks away nervously. "I wasn't really afraid to ask her out or dance with her until I was told I wasn't going far enough…"

"Well ok then." Rita's voice fills with slight annoyance, "There's a sad, white-haired girl, who really needs the boy she likes to go up and make things up to her, right now, got it?" Then she glares at her sons, "I'll deal with her brothers.

Ron Andy nods, before turning and walking up the stairs.

"So, you almost scared off your sister's love interest by trying to meddle in her love life huh?" Rita pinches the bridge of her nose, "Then you cause her to cry over the boy you scared." Then she looks at her sons, "After the dance, you're all grounded, got that?"

The boys nod in a remorseful agreement.

"Good, now go look out for her, you know the deal." Rita orders, before turning and walking out of the room.

Upstairs, Ron Andy takes a deep breath, before knocking on the former linen closet door, "Hey Linka, it's me."

"What do you want Ron?" The girl on the other side counters.

"Mind if I come in?" He sighs, "I'm sorry for how I acted."

The girl doesn't respond. _"Go figure."_

"I was just afraid I wouldn't be able to please you. Your brothers said that you wanted me to be the best boy ever, that I needed to be able to do anything and everything for you." He holds his arm and looks away, "I felt like I just couldn't handle the pressure and well… I broke up with you. I'm sorry…"

The door slowly opens, revealing a young girl.

"Do you forgive me?" Ron asks, his voice filling with remorse.

"Ron, I already think that you're the best boy ever." Linka smiles, before throwing her arms around him, "I'll forgive you just this once." Then she gives him a stare look, "But you owe me so much chocolate!"

"Deal." Ron responds. "I'm sorry I broke up with you."

"Don't worry about it." Linka responds, before whispering with flames in her breath, "But do it again and I'll set you on fire."

Ron gulps in fear, before nodding, "Understood."

 _ **The next night…**_

Linka steps down the stairs in a beautiful orange dress, "I'm ready Ron!"

"Heh, bout time." Ron quips, "It took like three hours or something." Then he takes her hand, "You ready?"

The girl smiles, "Yeah, let's go dance."

The two both blush, before waving goodbye to the nearby brothers and parents. And with that, the duo steps out of the home.

* * *

And so, Ron and Linka hold hands as they step onto the school dance floor. For the first song of the night, the teachers had decided to give the Valentine's Dance a slow beginning.

Linka leans into Ron's chest and blushes as they dance. The boy makes sure to keep to be gentle as he moves her body around his own.

"I'm sorry I let the pressure get to me Linka." The boy sincerely whispers.

The young girl looks up at him and smiles, "Don't worry about it. Just, next time talk to me before you let the exhaustion get to you. You know I don't want things to move by quickly either."

And with that, the duo simply dances the night away.

A few feet away, Claudia and Cristopher do the same. Though lacking the issues Linka and Ron had.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Luke watches the couple closely through a set of binoculars.

"Heh, couldn't resist the urge to watch out for her huh?" A familiar girl greets, causing the boy to jump up and turn, "Nyla?"

"The one of many." The former hunter steps out from the shadows behind him.

Luke smiles, "What brings you here on Valentine's Day night?"

Nyla rubs the back of her head; "Well… since I've been stuck in this dimension waiting for my 'fate worse than death' I decided to get some tickets to a rock concert tonight…"

The young man raises an eyebrow, "And?"

The young woman pulls out two tickets, "They accidently gave me a spare and well…"

"You want me to your valentine huh?" Luke chuckles, "If what you told me is true, aren't we like… interdimensional counterparts?"

"Yeah…" Nyla quips, before looking at the young man, "But uhh… that's not how it works! Uhh…"

"I'm joking, sure I'll go with you." The young man then turns to his sister and her own date, "After all, Link looks like they'll be fine with Ron tonight, and when love's in the air, you can only be 'So Far Gone'."

Nyla smiles, "Haha! I get the pun." Then she takes Luke's hand in her own.

Luke smiles as well, "Awesome Nyla. Now let's go Juliette. Let's get there before the mosh pit's full."

"You got it Romeo." Nyla responds, and the two young adults blush, before walking off arm-in-arm.

On the other side of the school gymnasium, Bebe sighs as she watches her baby brother and his date dance. Next to her, Loki held a set of binoculars and watched them closely, ready to intervene in case something happened.

Suddenly, the young woman stands up and pulls out her phone, before turning a song on, the soft music complimenting the cloudless nights sky perfectly.

"What the?" Loki goes, before looking up at his girlfriend.

Bebe simply stretches her arm at him, "Come on. Dance with me."

"Huh? Here? Now?" Loki stammers, "But what about…"

"Come on Loki, we can't let those little knuckleheads be the only ones to enjoy this moment." The young woman responds, causing Loki to smile.

"Heh, ok." He responds. And with that, they too begin to dance under the soft moonlight.

20-8-18-15-21-7-8 20-8-5 6-9-18-5, 20-8-5 6-12-1-13-5-19, 1-14-4 20-8-5 13-5-4-4-12-9-14-7 2-18-15-20-8-5-18-19, 12-9-14-11-1 1-14-4 18-15-14 1-14-4-25' 19 12-15-22-5 23-9-12-12 3-1-18-18-25 15-14.

 **A/N So how was that guys? I feel like the pacing was off a bit, but I'm not sure. This was a ridiculously hard chapter to write. As always, I thank Wolvenstrom and Exotos135 for their help!**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed!**

 **Also, seeing as I didn't put a hint for the next chapter in this one, here it is: The next chapter is going to involve one of the brothers, and his name starts "L" and ends with "I". Let's see who can guess who's next!**


	18. Lost In The Woods

**A/N Hey guys! I'm back! And as always, updating on time and to the best it can be! At this point this is the longest story I've ever written, it has the most reviews follows and faves out of my stories, and has even been featured on TVTropes and the Loud Community! Thanks for everything you guys!**

 **As always, R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: It's the Loud's annual trip to the Royal Woods Forest! Loki's revelation (Planned).**_

Story Eighteen: Lost In The Woods

" _ **Hey Linka! Linka, wake up!"**_ A familiar voice calls, causing the young, white-haired girl to tiredly open her eyes.

" _ **Linka, it's Claudia!"**_ The device continues, _**"Come on! Answer!"**_

Slowly, Linka reaches over and grabs the device off her desk, "Yeah Claudia? What is it?"

" _ **Cristopher said it'd be ok for us to come over! Just tell me when and we can go!"**_ Claudia continues, her voice filling with excitement.

"Really?!" Linka's eyes go wide while an excited smile forms on her face, "That's awesome Claudia! I'll ask my parents if I can go! Thanks so much!"

" _ **No probs Linka."**_ The girl responds, _**"Just stay safe and stuff. See ya later!"**_ And with that, the walkie-talkie goes silent.

" _Awesome! I'm now one step closer to finding the second fragment!"_ Linka cheerfully thinks, before yawning and pulling herself up from her bed, "Good morning Loud House." She stretches for a moment, before taking a look at her wall-mounted clock. "Huh, it's ten AM…" Slowly, the realization dawns on her, "Wait… isn't it Saturday?"

"Oh no." Immediately, she jumps to her feet and rushes over to her door, "Please, I don't need to deal with the flu protocol today! I really don't need to deal with flu protocol today!"

Then, she grabs hold of her knob and throws her room door open… only to revel her ten brothers frantically rushing in and out of each other's rooms, everyone stammering as they do so, "Uhh… what's going on?"

Immediately, Lars and Lexx rush out of their rooms carrying random bags, while Leif and Lynn rush in, no doubt to grab more. Loki rushes out of his and Loni's room carrying a random box of supplies, shouting, "Come on, we need more gear!" while Loni and Luke follow, carrying random boxes as well.

" _Well… I'm not sure what's better, dealing with flu protocol or not having any idea why my brothers are panicking."_ Linka then steps forward and turns into her youngest brother's room, "Uhh hey Levi, mind telling me what's going on?"

The young scientist responds by throwing random junk out of a random bin.

"Levi!" She angrily shouts.

The scientist immediately turns and looks at his sister, "Oh, hey Linka, sorry, what do you need?" He adjusts his glasses, "We're kinda busy, but I'm pretty sure I can help you and…"

"Care to tell me what's got you guys so worked up?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

Levi then turns back to the chest and continues throwing stuff out of it, "It's president's day weekend, and we all have the week off." He then pulls out a familiar orange device and throws it back.

" _Huh, a duel disk?"_ Linka catches and inspects it for a moment, _"Weird…"_ Then she asks, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well…" The young boy turns around and rubs the back of his head nervously, "It's our yearly trip to the woods, and well…" His face goes red in embarrassment, "We all forgot to pack up… again."

"Oh…" Linka chuckles, "Seriously bro? Is that all that's gettin' ya nervous?"

"Yes." Levi answers, "Now please, can you stand clear? We're really busy and well… the last time we weren't completely focused on packing, we forgot some crucial supplies." He then looks his sister in the eyes, "Let's just say, it wasn't a very enjoyable week."

Linka shivers at the mere thought of what he could mean, before nodding, "Ok Levi. I understand." And with that, she turns and returns to her room, closing the door and dropping the duel disk on her desk as she does so.

" _So… these guys are going to be away for the week huh?"_ the girl smiles, _"The girls and I never went camping for more than a day and whenever we did they'd always say they hated it…"_ a soft, nostalgic air overtakes her as she sits down in front of her desk, _"I wonder if… maybe I could join them."_

Then she takes a deep breath, _"One fragment down, three to go. After the randomness that the past few weeks have given, I guess it would be nice to just go out in the woods and just have a good time."_ She then gets changed into her typical tangerine blouse and blue skirt, before carefully maneuvering passed her panicked brothers and heading downstairs.

"Hey mom!" She greets.

The woman looks at her only daughter and smiles, "Mornin' Linka."

Linka takes a seat next to her mother, "Hey mom… I was wondering, what are we going to do while the boys are off on the camping trip?"

"Well… we usually have some mother-daughter bonding time and just some simple week off shenanigans." Rita calmly answers, careful not to stir Leon from his sleep, "Why do you ask?"

"Well…" Linka nervously looks away, "I was just wondering… if it would be all right if I joined them."

The mother smiles, "Now Linka, you know that those boys love going on their yearly camping trips without us. After all, it's their father-son bonding time." She then leans back against the couch, "Besides, we've never gone camping before."

" _Yeah… that's what you think."_ Linka goes, before leaning back as well, "I understand mom… I just… I wanted to see what those boys do when they go and camp out in the woods. They seem like they have a really fun time doing it."

"I know dear, I know." Rita chuckles, before standing up, "Though… Now that you mention it… it does sound like it would be fun."

"What does honey?" Lynn Sr. asks as he steps into the living room, his back laden with his own camping supplies.

Rita then answers, "Linka and I were wondering if would it be possible for us to join you this year? After all, camping with you boys does sound like a fun idea!"

The man's voice fills with an unsure nervousness, "I'm not sure dear… remember, the first thing we do when we get to the forest is go on our yearly race to the campsite. It's a really hard hike and I don't want you two to get hurt. Plus, don't your two have anything else to do this week?!"

Rita puts her hands on her hips, "Lynn Bertram Loud Jr." A tranquil fury overtakes the woman, "Don't you remember just how many times I've saved your butt from stupid things before?"

Immediately, the man holds back and grits his teeth, "But Linka? She-"

The young girl then steps forward with begging eyes, "Please daddy, I can help! I would love to go camping with you guys!"

Lynn Sr. grits his teeth once more.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Ok, the class two anomalies have been located." A small, blonde-haired girl in a blight-blue uniform declares, "What do you see Alex?"

Next to her, a young boy in a pink uniform looks into his Holo-gear, "The cluster of anomalies is in there…" His voice nervously trails off.

"Alex?" She goes, "What's wrong."

"He's… he's in there Aeif…" Alex nervously whispers. "He's…"

"Who?" Aeif responds, before looking through her binoculars as well… only to spot the entirety of the Loud Family gathered in front of their father. The young girl watches for a moment; as the boys listen to their father go on about whatever random topic concerned them that day. Quickly, her eyes fall upon a familiar, blonde-haired boy, "Oh… he exists in this dimension…"

The girl then turns to her brother, "Don't worry Alex, everything's going to be fine. He'll never hurt you again."

The boy takes a moment to regain his composure and nod, "Ok sis, when do you wanna try to… ya know, seal them in cards?"

"Let's wait for them to break off, it'll be easier to beat them when they're split up ok?" The girl then sits up and places a hand on her brother's shoulder, "Just remember, these guys aren't our family. And no matter what, I'll never let him harm you again."

Alex nods, "Thanks sis." And with that, they sit back and simply wait.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"So… boys uhh…" Lynn Sr. awkwardly goes, making sure not to break eye contact with the road, "Yeah uhh, there's been a change of plans…"

"Yeah?" Luke tilts his head in confusion, "What is it?"

Lynn Sr. rubs the back of his head, "This year, your mother and Linka are tagging along. So uhh… I need you guys to decide what your teams are going to be." Then he motions towards his wife, "I'll be taking your mother. So you guys have to choose someone for Linka."

The lone girl beams with excitement over the choice, _"I can't wait to go camping! Something to get my mind off the mission would be really nice!"_

"And remember boys, you till have to try to win!" Rita continues. "After all, it wouldn't be much fun if you didn't try!

Despite their unsure silence, the boys all wanted to mutter something along the lines of, "dangit" given their situation. Though, they hold their tongues, lest they offend their sister.

"So what are we going to do Loki?" Levi looks to his eldest brother, a concerned expression overtakes the young boy.

A slightly annoyed air begins to overtake the family, while Lynn Sr., Rita, Linka and the boys wait patiently for the young man's response.

" _Dangit, what are we going to do?"_ Loki thinks, glancing at his brothers and sister as he does so. _"Whoever takes Linka is going to have a bad time watching out for her… And if they lose, it'll be because they were taking care of her… there will be an argument over it…"_ Suddenly an idea comes to him, _"But if the person in question is experienced enough…"_

Loki takes a deep breath, "Ok guys, I'll take Linka as my partner ok?"

The lone girl smiles, "Really Loki?!" Her voice fills with excitement, before she gives a crude salute, "You can count on me!"

"Got it sis." The boy nods before he turns to his other brothers, "The rest of you, go in the pairs you feel comfortable with."

Levi hits his calculator and points to Loni; "I'll take my second eldest sibling then. Given the only other options will be difficult to work with"

Lexx and Leif turn to each other and nod. "We'll go together."

Luke then strums his guitar; "I'll take Lane then." And Lane nods his response, "Yeah, this'll be a **hard wood** of a time!"

" _I'm not sure if I should be offended by that or not…"_ Linka immediately thinks.

"Good, then our pairs are set." Lynn Sr. declares, then he turns to face their two girls, "Now, how about you two get ready? We leave in an hour."

Linka and Rita nod, while Lynn Sr. continues, "Boys, help your sister pack up, I'll help your mother."

And with that, the family breaks up to pack.

 _ **A few hours later…**_

The Loud Family drives down an unfamiliar dirt rod as they make their way to the forest.

"Ok guys, you know what to do correct?" Lynn Sr. goes, and his children respond with a resounding, "Yes!"

"Good," He continues, before chuckling, "You girls excited?"

Linka and Rita both nod, while Linka continues, "I can't wait! To see what you guys do when you go out on these! You made it sound so cool!"

"Heh Linka." Leif goes, "You don't know the half of it!"

Lynn Sr. then turns to his wife, "You sure your brother will be ok with Leon?" And Rita gives a soft nod, "Course, he's great with kids!"

"Ok then…" The man then turns the family wagon into a deserted parking lot and turns the engine off, "K guys, we're here. You know what comes next."

And with that, the boys disembark and line up in front of the van, with their gear bags placed neatly in front of them. Linka and Rita follow, standing off to the side, unsure of what to do.

"Ok boys, check your gear." Lynn Sr. commands, while he takes out several rolls of paper as well as a plastic bag. "Remember, food supplies for nine days. Spare clothing. Sunglasses, and screen in case you're out in the open for too long. You're all wearing jackets. Make sure you have spare clothes in case it rains."

The man's voice fills with seriousness. "Remember to watch your water supplies. Just cause it's cold doesn't mean you won't get dehydrated. You should all have your lighters and emergency fire starters handy. And lastly, first aid kits, flashlights, sleeping bags, your tents, and your emergency flares."

Immediately, everyone goes through their bags, for those items, before looking up and giving an affirmative nod at the man.

"Good." His declares, before handing a map and compass to each of the teams, "Remember, if you need help, use your flares, we'll rush to you. The hike should only take today and tomorrow morning got that." The father's voice fills with determination, "I don't want any of you travelling through the night."

"Understood dad." The boys declare.

And Linka thinks, _"As well as a Holo-Gear and dimensional watch… just in case a fragment is nearby."_

"I wish you all the best of luck. Remember the first team to get to the campsite first gets the sweet spot." Then, the man takes his wife's hand in his own, "Now come along honey, let's do this.

And with that, the boys break off and enter the forest from their own points of interest.

"Ok Linka. You're with me." Loki takes his sister's hand in his own.

"I'm so excited Loki!" Linka declares, while she thinks, _"My mind is excited at least. My body is dreading the idea of going out in the woods and spending time out in the cold."_

"Heh, awesome Linka, we're gonna have a good time." Loki chuckles, before stepping into the woods as well. "Let's hope your excitement is hot enough to endure the cold."

Linka simply smiles as she looks ahead.

The forest is beautiful this time of year, with only a thin layer of snow blanketing the ground. The pine trees around them have been covered white by the stuff. No doubt there would be some annoyed birds around.

Despite the cold air around them, Linka actually begins to slightly overheat- though that's a given since her brothers insisted on giving her five layers to keep warm.

" _Heh, Linka seems to be having fun already."_ Loki thinks as he glances at his sister, the young girl's smile already warming up the forest around him… it was either that or her natural heat. _"I haven't seen Linka smile this much in a while… again…"_

"This place is amazing Loki!" Then she breaks his grip and runs over to a random tree.

"Course sis, it's the forest." Loki chuckles, "It's always beautiful." Then the young man ducks under a tree branch, "Now come on, and watch your head, we'll sightsee, just we have to keep moving."

Linka nods, "You go it bro." And with that, Linka cheerfully follows, "Where are we going anyway?"

"We're going to the other side of the forest." Loki doesn't hesitate to answer; "We always start this camping week by racing to the campsite." He chuckles, "After all, there's a small area there where the ground's soft enough the rest on well enough, and it's decently close to the lake so it's not too cold." He turns to her, "It's the sweet spot."

"I see." Linka smiles, "Well then, we better get to hiking!"

Loki then awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "The thing is, I wanted to know, are you ok with going the route I usually take? It's hard ton traverse, but it'll get us there faster than anywhere else…"

"I don't mind at all bro." Linka nods, and takes her brother's hand once more, "Let's go."

The young man nods, "Ok sis." And with that, they head deeper into the forest.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Ok Luke, boost me up!" Lane asks, and Luke responds by standing in front of the rock ledge in their way with his hands cupped, "I'm all ready bro."

And with that, Lane runs at Luke, steps into his hands and jumps. Luke responds by pushing up on his leg, giving him a boost up. It takes the young man to climb over, turn around and offer Luke his hand. "Ok Luke, your turn!"

Luke crouches for a moment, before jumping at his brothers, hand, easily taking hold it, before climbing up to the ledge as well.

"Ok Lane, we're making good progress." Luke goes, "Just a few more of these and we'll-"

"Halt!" A feminine voice calls out, before Alex and Aeif step out from their hiding place behind one of the trees.

"Uhh… who are you guys?" Lane tilts his head in confusion, "And why does it look like you're about to go to school."

The young boy hesitates to answer, while his sister goes, "Under the authority of the Anomaly Elimination Squadron, we will seal you away!"

Luke then steps in front of Lane, "Look you two, we don't want any trouble." His voice is filled with determination; "We just want to reach our campsite before it gets too dark."

"I'm sorry." Alex speaks up, his voice filled with an uncertain fear, "But it's our job to fix things!" Then, the duo raises their holo-gears. And before Luke and Lane can fight back, a blue and pink light emanate from the devices, causing them to become cards in the hunters' hands.

"Two down, more to go bro." Aeif quips, turning to her brother as she does so, "You ok?"

Alex nods, "Yeah, I'm all right. Just… they reminded me of… him…"

Aeif puts her arm around her brother, "Don't worry, we'll get to his counterpart here soon enough. We'll make sure he can't do anything to anyone else, and save this reality too."

"Yeah sis, we will." Then, Alex turns to face his sister, determination filling his expression, "Let's go. We've got more anomalies to seal."

 _ **Later…**_

A few hours later, the sun begins to set over the wintry forest, taking with it, the light that illuminates the Loud Family's paths ahead.

After hours of climbing up and down the uneven ground along Loki's route, Linka and Loki step up to a small clearing, by the forest mountainside, where Loki declares, "Ok sis, just a few more feet and we'll be at the Anima Pass." Then he turns to Linka, "So I suppose this is a nice place to camp for the night."

"Got it bro." Linka then drops her backpack in the clear patch under a tree, "So, how about I get us some firewood?"

Loki immediately looks at his sister in surprise, "Are you sure Linka? I mean, it's your first time camping and uhh…"

"Come on Loki." Linka waves him off, "It's just firewood! It's not like there are killers in the forest or something!"

"Yeah…" Loki looks away, _"I hope at least."_

"I'll be fine, just cause it's my first, doesn't mean I'll be in too much danger!" The girl then steps in front of her brother, _"Besides, I went camping on my own back home!"_

"Fine." Loki sighs, "But be careful, and I want you to scream and run back at the first sign of trouble ok?" Then he drops his bag and begins to go through it as well, "I'll set up our tents and stuff, ok?"

Linka smiles and nods, "Ok bro!" And with that, she turns and heads off in a random direction.

" _I hope she'll be all right…"_ He takes a deep breath and sighs, _"It's been months since Levi told us she wanted to be a boy… but she's done things that go against that idea… Man I don't know what's going on with her."_ Then, he takes out his mallet and one of the tent's pikes, _"But at least she seems happy. And at least she's safe."_

And with that, he gets to work hammering in the tents.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

"Wow Linka." Loki goes as he watches his sister set up the campfire, "When did you learn to set up a fire pit up like that?"

" _From the time I had to serve all my sisters when we camped."_ Linka immediately thinks, before putting on a sheepish smile and turning to face him, "Oh just found out from TV!"

"Ok… I guess that makes sense." Loki nervously goes, before taking a seat on a nearby fallen log, "So, we've got some time sis. Wanna go eat now?"

"Sure bro, what's on the menu?" Linka chuckles.

"We've got MRE's." Loki chuckles, "I remember back at the academy I had to eat these darn things every single day." Then, he pulls out a small brown box and his water bottle, "Come on, just cause it's a package filled with lies, doesn't mean you can't enjoy it."

Linka chuckles, "What do you mean bro?" The girl then takes a seat next to him.

Loki responds by pouring some water into the source, "MRE stands for 'Meal-Ready-to-Eat." Then he smiles, "They're not a meal, it's not ready, and you can't really eat it."

"Heh, and why's that?" the girl tilts her head in confusion.

"You'll see when you eat it." Loki answers, before taking out a small plastic fork and picking at the now warmed food that had been packed. Without hesitation, he takes a forkful and shoves it in his mouth, quickly chews and swallows."

"Here I go." Linka gulps in fear, before following in her brother's footsteps and taking a forkful in her mouth… and immediately gagging as the taste of garbage rolls off her tongue and down her throat. "Ugh, that's horrible!"

Loki chuckles, "Trust me, you get used to it sis." Then he takes another spoonful, "So Linka…"

"Yeah Loki?" The girl chuckles and turns to her brother.

"So sis, why'd you decide to tag along this time? After all, it's not like you to well, wanna do stuff we like."

Linka shrugs, "Come on, you're my brothers! We haven't spent that much time lately and well… what better way to spend time together than to go out and go campin' with em?!"

" _Yeah… you stopped hanging out with us after the incident made you afraid of us… even when you started talking to us again you still chose not to spend too much time…"_ Loki shakes his head, "Heh, true." Then the young man looks forward, "That's nice, after all, what better way to have fun than to do it with your bro."

"Course!" Linka nervously responds, _"Why does Loki seem more concerned about that than usual?"_

"I'm still your favorite brother right?" Loki nonchalantly asks, and Linka responds with a smile, "Course bro!"

Loki gives a soft, fatherly smile with that, "You know, if there's anything you ever need to tell me, you can trust me with it."

The girl nods, "Yeah bro, I know." Then she looks at her food, and hesitates, _"Well… I have him here and we've got nothing better to do… maybe he could tell me the truth…"_ Then she looks up at him; "Loki… would you mind telling me anything too?"

"Hmm?" Loki places his arm around her, "Of course sis, to you I'm an open book!"

She hesitates, "Can you tell me why you ended up in military school all those years ago?"

He raises an eyebrow in surprise. "You mean dad never told you?"

"Yeah…" Linka responds, rubbing the back of her head as she does so, _"Yeah… no one's talked about the incident since I came so I'm kinda lost…"_

"You sure you want me to tell you?" Loki turns to face her, "I'll have to talk about my role in the 'incident' all those years ago…"

"I don't mind… I can handle it." The girl responds, and Loki sighs, "Ok then…" before he takes a deep breath.

"About six years ago, I was just a normal kid, carefree and whatnot." He starts, his voice filling with a nostalgic bliss, "Dad back then was way more laid back. He was fine with whatever us boys did so long as it wasn't hurting anyone else."

Linka listens intently, unsure of what to make of her brother's words.

"So of course, without a leadership structure of some kind. Bad things were going to happen… eventually." He looks into the fire they had started, "I befriended this boy, he was fifteen at the time. Nothin' much to him really; he was a nice guy, but had some… issues in the legal department."

"What do you mean?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

"Simply put, he was a drug dealer." Loki answers, before putting another spoonful of MRE in his mouth, "Now, I never did that stuff. He warned me against that stuff." He takes another deep breath, "One day stupid little Ol'me decided to go out with him on one of his trades."

Then he looks at the girl once more, "To make a long story short, the guys he dealt with found out where we lived, because I wasn't careful. I messed up." His voice fills with a pained guilt, "So one day, mom and dad decided to leave you, Lars, and Lane behind while they ran errands."

Then he throws his arms up, "So of course that's the day they decide to break in to our home." Then he sighs, "I don't know what they did to you three but… all I do know is that mom and dad decided to come home early that day and were able to subdue the intruders before anything bad could've happened."

"The police told us we were lucky they weren't armed." Loki then looks up and takes in the soft moonlight around him, before he runs his hands through Linka's soft, white hair, "After that, dad figured out I was partially responsible for what had happened. He decided that I needed discipline. So he sent me off to military school." Then he takes a deep breath, "For four years… he never seemed so… perky after that."

" _So… does that mean that Lane is messed up too?_ "

"You ok Linka?" Loki nervously goes.

The girl quickly nods, "Yeah, I'm fine… I just… I feel like I had a hand in you going away…"

"Don't worry." Then, he places a soft hand on her shoulder, "When I went away I hated it, but I didn't fight back because I knew I deserved it…"

The young man turns to Linka and gazes into her soft brown eyes, "But whether he knew it or not, dad sending me away turned out to be the best thing that had ever happened to me." He looks away as he says, "I mean the reason was horrible and I wish it never happened," Before he looks at his sister again but I learned. It's cause of it that I met Bebe. I have a future in the armed forces. And now, the guys and I could protect you and each other. It's why I always win this contest, and why we're gonna win that sweet spot!"

Then, his voice gains a soft solemnity, "When I was there, I made a promise that I would make sure nothing bad ever happened to you sis. And if I ever see those SOB's that hurt you, I'd kick their arses!"

"Thanks Loki…" She smiles, "You're the best." While she thinks. _"Could that be why Linka doesn't wanna come home?"_ Then she looks away, before staring into the fire, _"But after everything I've seen her do… why don't I feel any sympathy for her?"_ She then forces more of the MRE into her mouth and swallows. The girl fights the anger building in her, _"These guys love her. Why does she want to live my life more?! Grr… watch yourself Lincoln, you can't let Loki know… can I?_

"You sure you're ok?" Loki asks, his voice filling with concern.

Linka nods, "Yeah bro." Then she looks at him with begging eyes, "Thanks."

"Ok…" Loki then leans back and looks up at the sky. "At least you're ok sis. At least you're ok."

"Agreed." Linka then looks down at her food in contemplation, before she takes another deep breath and continues, "Hey Loki… I can trust you with anything right?" She hesitates, _"Should I tell him? I mean, after the way Luke and Lars reacted to finding out the truth… what would he do?"_

"Course sis." He responds, "After all, I'm your big brother!"

"Well I-"

*Boom* something goes, causing the duo to jump to their feet.

"Loki! What was that?!" Linka frantically shouts.

Immediately, Loki looks up, "That' was the sound of a flare going off, nearby too." Then he looks at his sister, "Grab your bag, we'll be back, but we won't know what the danger is until we get there!" Then Linka looks up as well, and spots a small, red trail rising up from the forest.

And with that, the duo rush over to the flare.

It takes them a few moments to do so, but when they finally arrive, they're the only ones in the empty clearing.

"Ok, I think the flare came from here." Linka whispers, before looking around, "Where is everyone?" She then shines her flashlight around, hoping to catch sight of the sender.

"Let's look around sis, they couldn't have gotten far." Then he shines his flashlight at the forest floor, causing a small, metallic device to glow in the darkness. _"What the?"_ Loki squats down, and pulls the device from the snow.

"Oh no…" He whispers.

"What is it Loki?" His sister stands behind the young man as he shows it off.

"It's the flare." He answer, concern filling his voice, "That means something happened to the sender." Then his body tenses up, before he shoves Linka to the ground, "Hit the deck!"

Immediately, a snowball flies over them.

Loki wastes no time jumping to his feet and hardening his stance, "Show yourself!"

 _ **Generating Hunting Field: Snow Warrior's Graveyard.**_ A computer goes, while a soft blue hue engulfs the clearing, illuminating the dark night.

Linka's eyes go wide, "Oh no…"

"What is it Linka?" Loki turns to his panicked sister.

Immediately, the girl turns to him, a frantic fear filling her voice, "Loki, I need you to get out of here! It's too dangerous for you!"

"No." he flatly responds, "What's going on here?"

"I don't have time to explain!" Then Linka drops her bag and rushes through it for a moment, before pulling out her holo-gear and a familiar metal card. She quickly secures it to her wrist and shoves the card inside, before she continues, "You're in danger Loki. If you don't get out of here, you're going to end up in a card!"

"No Linka, I'm not leaving you until you explain what's going on!" Loki's face fills with determination, before he turns to face the darkness ahead of them.

Linka's device immediately generates a hardlight snow blaster in her hands.

" _ **Last one standing wins!"**_ The computer goes, before two more hardlight blasters generate across from them.

Loki responds by shining his flashlight at them, revealing two familiar children.

" _Lana and Lexx?!"_ Linka grits her teeth, "Who are you?! Why are you here?!"

Alex steps back at the sight of the young man, "Aeif… it's him!"

Yet his sister counters, "Calm down Alex, he's not going to hurt us." Determination fills her voice, before she turns to face the duo and aims her snow blaster, "It's time to seal you away forever anomalies!"

"Seal away?" Loki turns to his sister, "What's going on Linka?! Why does one of them look like Leif and Lexx?!"

"I'll explain everything later, just please I need you to stay clear!" Linka shouts… only for the twin hunters to aim and fire at them. _"Dangit."_ She responds by shoving Loki away, causing him to stumble back in the snow while the icy pellets hit het her.

Linka groans in pain for a moment, while Loki regains his bearings. Then, the young man's eyes go wide in shock, "Linka!"

Yet, before he's able to get up to his feet, a dark blue light engulfs his sister, causing her body to disappear… leaving the strange device she had equipped, behind.

"No…" Loki whispers, an unresolved rage building in his heart as he turns to the kids, "What did you do to my sister?!"

The boy steps back fearfully, while his sister remains determined.

"Answer me!" Loki picks the device from the snow and slaps it on his wrist, causing it to latch on to him and a hardlight rifle to appear in his hands.

Aeif raises the metal card depicting Linka, "She was an anomaly. So we sealed her away. Then she shoves the card in her pocket, while her brother continues for her.

"Y-yeah!" The young boy's voice is filled with fear, "And now we're going to seal you too! We're not going to let you abuse anyone else!" Then he too raises his weapon.

" _ **New user detected!"**_ The computer suddenly goes. _ **"Intrusion penalty: shock!"**_

"What the?" is all Loki can mutter, before a surge of electricity rushes through his body, causing him to fall to the ground in pain, "G'ahh!"

"See Alex, he's harmless!" Aeif aims her weapon, "Goodbye Akio counterpart. You won't hurt anyone, ever again!"

Yet, Loki doesn't give up, and he jumps to his feet, dodging the incoming ordinance as he does so. "I don't know who you think you are, but the name's not Akio!" quickly, the young man ducks behind a tree.

"We don't care!" the girl shouts, "We are going to do our jobs! The only thing left for you to do is run or fight us!"

"Run?" Loki's voice fills with both anger and determination, "Yeah, that's not happenin'." Then he jumps out from cover and rolls, catching a glimpse at the two hunters as he does so. "My name is Loki Lexington Loud, and I am not leaving here without my family!"

"Yeah, good luck with that!" The girl yells, before rushing out from her own cover and charging at Loki's hiding tree… only to find the young man nowhere to be seen.

"Hey idiot, over here!" He shouts, before aiming and firing at the girl. "You should've known better than to challenge a guy who went to military school and was the top of his class shooter for three years in a row!"

Immediately, Aeif dodges the attack and fires back, though Loki had taken the chance to escape his hiding place.

Alex on the other hand steels his nerves, before joining in the fray with, "Where are you?!"

"I'll show myself as soon as you tell me where my family is!" Loki counters.

Alex pulls out a small deck of cards, "We sealed them in cards. They're all right here."

Then Aeif continues, "And you're next Akio!"

"A promise is a promise." Loki mutters, before jumping down from the trees and showing himself, "Now, care to explain what this sealing stuff is?"

"You're an anomaly." Alex answers, while Aeif raises her cannon, "Now you shall get sealed!" And with that, the twins unleash a barrage of snow at Loki. Yet, he responds by dodging to the side and using a tree for cover once again.

The twin hunters rush over in anger, desperate to catch up to the anomaly they so sought.

Yet, just as he did before, Loki easily disappears from sight and continues, "I'm going you ten seconds to free my family or else I'm going to use everything I've learned to beat the answer out of you!"

"Sorry, but they're anomalies, and as such, we'll never release them!" Aeif answers, before aiming at the tree branches above and firing.

Loki is barely able to dodge the snow ordinance, as he jumps to another tree, "Well then, I gave you two the chance, but I guess that's too good for ya huh?" Then he jumps down from the tree, quickly aims his weapon, and fires a single snowball.

The snow bullet flies through the air for a moment, before hitting the female twin smack in the head, causing her holo-gear to detach from her hand and her sealed anomalies to fly off her person as she crashes into a nearby tree.

*Groan* she goes, while Alex looks on in shock, "Aeif!"

Immediately, a small bar pops up on Loki's holo-gear, reading, _**"Seal defeated opponent? [Y/N]"**_

"I wonder…" Then, he hits the "Y" and immediately, the device responds by sending out a flash purple light. When it dies down, the girl is gone, and Loki is holding a metal card decorated by her image. "Well, that explains how you sealed my family away."

Alex falls to his knees, "No… Aeif… no, it can't be." The young boy turns to face Loki, defeated tears rolling down his cheeks, "Unseal my sister now!"

"No." Loki flatly responds, "Not until you unseal my family."

Alex stands up and grits his teeth, before aiming his weapon, "That was my only sister!" And with that he fires a barrage of snowballs at Loki, yet the young man doesn't hesitate to dodge and rush over to yet another tree.

"Linka was my sister too!" Loki declares, before quickly climbing up the tree.

Alex screams as he continues firing snowballs at Loki, who can only dodge the incoming onslaught.

"Where I came from, you hurt us! I may not have wanted to join this unit, but I did because I was promised I'd be able to get closure for what happened to us because of you!" Alex shouts, his voice filling with determination as he follows the little light given off Loki's hardlight weapon.

"I have no idea what you're talking about! I've done nothing to hurt you! You sealed my siblings in cards!" Then, Loki sends a counter-assault against the hunter, yet Alex responds by dodging and ducking behind cover, before reloading his snow.

Loki grabs a handful of snow and shoves it in his cannon as well, " _I have no idea what's going on! But no doubt, it isn't good."_ Then he rolls behind the tree, only to find Alex had evaded him once again.

"Grr." Loki grits his teeth and holds his weapon at the ready, "Where'd you go pipsqueak?"

"Over here arsehole!" Alex shouts, before firing once again. This time Loki counters by firing his own weapon at the incoming snow, causing both to fall out of the air.

Loki then charges forward at the boy, before rolling under Alex's volley of snow and finally catching up to him, grabbing the boy by the collar of uniform and holding his weapon to his face. A furious fire burns in the former cadet's eyes as he orders, "Unseal my family now."

"Never." The hunter grits his teeth, before spitting in his face. "You don't deserve them. And you'll never hurt us again."

"Screw you." Loki mutters, before pulling his snow cannon's trigger, dousing the hunter in snow- causing his holo-gear and the cards he had collected to fall to the ground under him.

Just as he did with his sister, Loki hits the "Y" option, causing a flash of purple light to engulf the Lexx look-a-like. Causing him to become a card in the eldest Loud Sibling's hand, "If this really was Lexx, I'd kick his ass."

Loki then wipes the spit from his face, before looking at the device he had been using, "If this thing could seal people in cards… then maybe it can unseal them." Then he grits his teeth, "Linka has so much explaining to do later." Then, he scrolls through the menu for a few moments.

"Replay memories?" Loki looks at the card in his hand, before taking a deep breath, "Well, I might as well find out what the heck happened…" Then he selects the option and shoves the card in the device's receiver.

It takes a moment for the device to load, before it projects the image of, well, himself, shouting at the boy he had just turned into a card. _"I guess this was what that kid remembered."_

"You need to learn your place Alex! Ever since mom, dad and Linka died, you never learned!" Then, Loki watches as the man pulls out his belt and ties it up. The scared little boy steps back in fear, before his counterpart begins to beat upon the young boy, causing Loki to wince.

" _Wait… where this guy came from… Linka and our parents died?!"_ Loki immediately thinks, before the projection statics out, moving to a scene in which the boy was talking to the girl he had just carded.

"I'm sorry Alex, but… we have to card them." The girl goes.

The boy looks away, "I know Aeif… can we at least save them for last? Because…"

Aeif nods, "No problem. We'll save them for last. Let's seal the rest first." Then she looks him in the eyes, "I miss her too Alex."

"Ok… so they were watching us huh?" Loki then scrolls through the memories the boy had. Though, besides how ruthlessly they had sealed his siblings, nothing of interest caught his eye.

After he finishes going through the memories, Loki turns off the feature, causing the boy's card to eject from the device. _"Well… I guess it's safe to assume what would've happened if those SOB's had been armed all those years ago…"_ he shakes his head, _"Don't focus on what could've been. You made a promise and you're going to keep it. You may have messed up all those years ago, but that doesn't mean you can let it define you"_

Then, he scrolls through the device's other features, and comes across the, "unseal" option. He quickly hits it, and picks up his family's cards.

With a few more taps, they all glow with white light, before flying off, with one dissipating right next to him.

And with that, Linka falls to the snow next to him. She rubs her head as she goes, "Ugh, what happened?"

Loki squats down to his sister, "Some weird kids came along and sealed you in a card."

The girl's eyes go wide in shock. "So… I have a lot of explaining to do don't I?"

"Yeah." He responds, before helping the girl up to her feet, "How about we start with, who were those two? And why were they after us?"

"Ok…" She sighs, "Those two were anomaly hunters, and they were after us because they wanted to seal us in cards for all eternity."

The former cadet holds off for a second and thinks, "Ok, and why did you have one of their device things? And what do you have to do with all this jazz?"

Linka hesitates for a moment, "How about I just tell you everything right from the beginning? I think that'll make this easier for both you and me."

"Fine." The boy nods, before kneeling down and grabbing the devices the hunters had left behind. After that, both he and Linka walk back to their camp and sit on the fallen log once more.

"Well Linka, I'm waiting." Loki mutters.

" _I can't tell him everything..."_ Linka hesitates, "Well, a few months ago, this weird guy named William Cryptos came and told me I had to save the universe!"

"Seriously Linka?" Loki's voice fills with skepticism.

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth." She takes a deep breath, "He told me that the universe became messed up by this weird anomaly." Then she looks him in the eye, "Which apparently is an evil counterpart of me. In order to fix everything, I have to collect the parts of a device that can fix everything."

"And these weird people that were after us?" The young man cuts in, his frustration building.

Linka looks up to the stars, hoping that they would be able to help her answer, "Those were anomaly hunters. These weird guys sent out to seal anomalies so they stop dimensional collapse or something like that." Then she takes a deep breathe, "Because of my counterpart's actions, I'm seen as a class two anomaly, along with the rest of you…"

"You know… if I didn't just turn two people into cards I wouldn't have believed you." Loki stares at his sister with a fatherly gaze, "So… when were you planning on telling me?"

Linka puts on a sheepish smile in response, "I… I wanted to wait until I thought you were ready!"

"Linka!" He yells, "If you're dealing with people like that all the time, don't you know how much danger you're in?!"

"Yeah!" Linka counters. "I accepted it though, because well… the universe needs me to do this stuff!" She then looks away, "I don't want to lose you guys…"

Loki takes a moment to calm down, before he continues, "Linka, you know we care about you, **I** care about you! Why didn't you tell me sooner?! I just fought those two and won!"

"Because I didn't want you to get hurt." She answers, _"Yeah, that and the fact that I'm still not sure if I should tell you the truth, given what you've told me..."_ Her voice gains a remorseful tone as she continues, "You guys see me as weaker than, well, everyone… and I didn't want you all to worry about me."

The young man places a soft hand on her shoulder, "Linka, you know we care about you." He turns her to face him, "Please, I want to help you then. I don't want anyone hurting you." The man fights the small lump growing in his throat, "I know it's not what I like, but… if you have to do this… I don't want you getting hurt. So please, let me do something to help."

"Ok…" Linka looks him in the eyes, "Well… so far I've found one of the four fragments I need to complete the device…"

"Yeah?" Loki goes, "What about the rest?"

"I think I know the location of another, but the other two are still a mystery to me." She answers, looking into the small fire as she does so, "I'm planning on going after it after this trip." Then her voice fills with a begging tone, "Please don't tell anyone yet. I want to tell them when it's best."

"I see." Loki whispers, "Well then… I'll help you in any way I can I guess." Then he turns to the fire as well, "Just… promise me you'll be safe Linka." He then turns to her with begging eyes, "If it's for the best, please. None of us would ever be able to forgive ourselves if something happened to you. I promise I won't tell, for now."

"Thanks Loki!" Linka smiles and throws her arms around her brother. "And no probs bro! I promise I'll be careful… thanks for not freaking out."

"Oh, I'm freaking out." Loki returns the hug, "I just learned in military school how to not look the part."

"Really?" Linka chuckles, "Can you tell me more?"

"Sure sis." And with that, the boy breaks the hug, before the duo goes off talking about the past adventures they have had, Loki talking about the things he did and learned in school, while Linka talks about the adventures of the past four months.

 _ **The next day…**_

After the craziness of the day prior, Loki and Linka quietly enter the empty campsite. The site consists of a few snowless clearings next to a lake, as well as a small picnic table held off to the side.

"We made it!" Linka declares, throwing her arms up in excitement, "Now let's go get the sweet spot!"

Loki chuckles, "Sure sis." Then, he leads her over to a small opening, right by the lake, and begins to pitch their tent.

Meanwhile, Linka looks out into the cool blue waters of the lake and takes a deep breath, _"For now… everything's fine…"_

"You gonna help Linka?" Loki quips, and Linka turns to him with, "Sure Loki!"

And with that She begins to help her brother pitch their tent, while the rest of the family comes along to set up their tents as well, though in considerably less comfortable places.

6-15-18 1 19-5-3-15-14-4 9 20-8-15-21-7-8 20-8-5-25 23-5-18-5 7-15-14-14-1 22-9-19-9-20 7-18-1-22-9-20-25 6-1-12-12-19!

 **A/N This chapter was significantly harder to write, mainly cause I have to take the state boards in a few days. As such, I am unsure if I will be update this coming Sunday. (Remember, I write the basis on Wednesday and finish the chapter on Saturday. I'm taking the test on Wednesday so unless I try to overclock, it'll probably not be done in time.)**

 **Anyways, as always, feel free to send any prompts you'd like to see done! And I thank Wolvenstrom and Exotos for their help! See ya in a week or two!**


	19. A Game Of Truth And Trials

**A/N Hey guys! Sorry this is about 4 hours late, I would've gotten this done yesterday, like usual, but someone decided to spill orange soda on my computer. Now I have to send it out for repairs… which are going to take a week or three to get done. Luckily, I'm a determined person! So I booted up my old computer (The one I used to write my stories on) and finished this chapter on it! Also, I thank Exotos135 (Chaoticson on deviant art) for the cover art! Check his channel out when you can!**

 **As always, R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Linka decides to finally deal with Cristopher's computer issues! (Inspired by a YMMV trope on TVTropes).**_

Story Nineteen: A Game Of Truth And Trials

"Are you really sure you wanna take these Lincoln?" Lynn Sr. tilts his head at his… 'Questionable' son's request, "I mean, this doesn't seem like something you'd wanna do. I mean… a few weeks ago you refused to get dirty and decided to wear pretty pink dresses. Today you even decided to bother Lola to let you borrow one of hers, and we both know how that went!"

His son stands in front of him, sporting a notable black eye. Lincoln gives a nervous smile as he answers, "Yeah dad, I'm definitely sure I want this." He looks up at his father, "I guess I just needed to spend some time with my uber-manly pop-pop!" Then for added effect he flexes his noodle arms and chuckles, "Haha! Ha..." while he thinks about the crazy things Pop-pop put him through in his manliness exercises.

"I don't know… something tells me it didn't quite work out," Lynn Sr. remarks, scratching his chin, "Maybe you should visit him again before-"

"No! Anything but that!" Lincoln pleads, only to immediately regain his composure, "I mean, I-I learned my lesson, dad, honest! I just... I want to give this a shot, okay?"

Lynn Sr. sighs in defeat, before rubbing his son's hair. Though the boy's hair was neither as long nor as short, as it was previously, it had still grown quite a bit since the boy's first visit to Albert's Retirement Home. He wears a slightly large orange polo matched up with a blue skirt, short white socks and cute banded shoes. Oddly enough, his eyelashes seem to be as long as his sister's as well.

"Ok then Lincoln." The older man goes, before sighing, "I'll pay so you can practice boxing with Lynn and join Leni's fashion design classes." He continues to run his hand through his hair, no doubt trying to remember a time when his only boy seemed less… confusing to follow.

"Thanks dad!" Lincoln throws his arms around his father in excitement and relief, popping his leg up as he does so.

"No problem... son…" He whispers, his voice filling with the pain of a broken father, "Just… be happy ok? I don't want to force you do something you don't want to do." And with that, he returns his son's embrace.

"Will do dad!" Lincoln cheerfully responds, before breaking the hug and running up the stairs, no doubt to tell everyone about it. " _The farther away I get from that old walking menace, the better!_ "

Lynn Sr. puts on a pained smile for a moment, before taking a deep breath and sighing once more.

"So… he convinced you huh?" Rita steps out of the kitchen with noticeable bags under her eyes.

The man nods, "Yeah Rita, he did." he turns to face her, "So uhh… I guess those weekly visits to Albert's are really startin' to pay off huh?"

"I guess so…" Rita throws herself on the couch, "Ya know, I never thought I'd see the day where our little boy, well…"

"Became so confusing to follow?" Lynn Sr. finishes, before stepping over to the kitchen, "I know Rita, I know."

"It's almost like he's a whole different person." She continues, "I mean, a few months ago he… she… I'm still not sure, refused to leave his room, and when he did, he ended up doin' stuff with the girls. And not his normal boy stuff either! He did all the girly things the girls loved! He even cried over chocolate!"

"Yeah, and then he ended up an anime-girl dress or something." The man turns to his wife once more, "You done re-sanding the table, honey?"

Rita quickly nods, "Yep, there's sawdust everywhere, but hey, it could be worse."

Lynn Sr. chuckles, "Yeah, someone could've spilt orange soda on the computer or somethin'." Despite trying to think of something other than their 'interesting' son, neither parent can seem to take their minds off him, "Anyways honey, Dinner'll be ready in a few hours."

"Can't wait." She responds, and with that, the man of the house walks into the kitchen and starts cooking their meal.

The woman however, takes a deep breath and sighs, _"What's going on with you Lincoln? Why is everything so… confusing with you?"_

And with that, Linka sighs, before going, "Hey GLaDOS, mind if I view my little sister Lisa? I wanna know if she's almost done with her new watch thing."

 _ **"Input accepted, User: Linka Loud."**_ The computer responds, before the goggles buzz out for a second and recalibrate… revealing a Lisa sitting in a dark room, with the others sleeping nearby.

"Huh, ok then." She quickly looks around, "Wait… wasn't it morning before?" With her frustration building, she shouts, "GLaDOS! Where am I?!"

 _ **"User: Linka Loud has been brought to Dimension CD-WIAFD-2."**_

The girl mentally facepalms, "Ugh, why'd you bring me here? I came to see my sister!"

 _ **"Directive met, user is viewing: Lisa Loud of Dimension CD-WIAFD-2."**_

"If you weren't the only working AI I knew about, I'd trash you." Linka begrudgingly mutters, before turning to the counterpart of her near-baby sister. "Besides, what's she doing anyway?"

No answer from the annoying A.I., go figure.

" _Well, while I'm here, I might as well watch."_ The girl thinks, before turning to face her. She watches as her baby sister finishes writing a small paper.

" _Heh, writing notes, just like always."_ Her thoughts continue… before she watches the Lisa counterpart go into a nearby drawer and pulling out a small revolver.

" _Oh no…_ " The older girl immediately thinks, her mind racing in shock, " _Is she gonna…_ "

*Bang!* The four-year-old quickly loads the weapon, before putting it up to her head and pulling the trigger without hesitation.

"GLaDOS! What the heck?!" Linka frantically shouts, flailing her arms up as she does so, "Why the heck did you bring me to a universe where my four-year-old sister shoots herself?!"

 _ **"As I have said before, I feel that it is necessary to expose you to all possible outcomes, as the phrase 'Infinite universes equals infinite possibilities' holds more weight then one would expect."**_ If GLaDOS didn't talk in a monotone voice, no doubt she would be a bit more… emotional about her wording. _**"Besides, ever since your male sibling Luke damaged my calibrators, I have to constantly recalibrate in order to send you to the correct destination."**_

"I hate you, GLaDOS, especially since I can't hate my own brother." Linka mutters, looking away from the now… deceased child as she does so, "Now, before I start having another existential crisis, show me Lisa Loud of Dimension C-137."

 _ **"Input accepted."**_ The A.I. goes, before the goggles fuzz out again and recalibrate once more, revealing Lisa sitting in front of her desk.

"Thank you, you stupid piece of garbage." Linka mutters.

" _ **Thank you for the compliments, User: Linka Loud."**_

With a defeated sigh and a motherly gaze, she looks at upon her younger sister. Lisa, instead of the slightly tired, yet vibrant young child she once was, seems exhausted, with bags under her eyes, a disheveled and slightly wet sweater, as well as slightly shaking hands.

 _"What the…"_ Linka thinks, " _What's happened to you Lisa?"_ She then turns her head towards the desk and notices the few… interesting items on it- random parts, random tools, and random… energy drinks? _"What the?"_ Her heart races in shock, "Lisa, what are you doing to yourself?!"

"Almost… done…" She whispers, moving her hands around a small device as she does so, "I'm… almost…" She takes a single deep breath, before slumping over. No doubt from overworking herself for who knows how long.

"Lisa…" Linka whispers, fighting the pained tears as she does so, _"She must've been working for months now trying to finish a new watch…"_ She glances down, looking upon the part of her arm where she would secure the Matter Key Watch, _"All the more reason to fix things…"_

After that, she takes a deep breath and takes her goggles off, _"Well… I don't know what to think about that image. Linka's still convinced my family I'm transgender, but now wants to do sports with Lynn, mud games with Lana, fashion design with Leni and music with Luna… I just saw Lisa go off the deep end, and my own Lisa is working herself to death in an attempt to fix things!"_ She throws her arms up in the air before she speaks aloud, "Well I guess this is just fine and dandy!"

"What is sis?" Loki asks, pushing the door open as he does so.

"Nothing really Loki…" Linka nervously rubs her arm, _"Dangit. Why now? Linka, err Lincoln, think of something quick!"_

Loki runs his hand through Linka's pure white hair, "Now Linka, I'm your big brother and have gone through two years of body language training, something's buggin' ya." His voice fills with a soft understanding, "Come on, I won't tell anyone."

Linka takes a deep breath, "It's nothing Loki, I was just looking at alternate universes and stuff." She then places her goggles on the table, "So, why'd you come?"

The young man stares at his sister, a knowing expression filling his face, "What did you see that's bugging you?"

The younger girl holds her arm for a moment, before sighing, "GLaDOS just showed me a dimension in which Levi's female counterpart killed herself…"

"Oh…" Immediately, Loki throws his arms around his sister and whispers, "Don't worry Link, everything's gonna be fine." He pulls her in close, making sure to rub her back and run his hand through her long white hair once more, "Levi's not gonna do anything like that. Just because it's a possibility doesn't mean it's guaranteed."

"Thanks Loki…" Linka goes, though even she is unsure of the veracity of that idea. " _Although, given how Luke and Lars reacted to the truth, I can't help but wonder..._ "

For a few moments, the two siblings simply stand there, with Linka unwilling to break the embrace. And yet, even she knows she has to do so eventually.

"So…" She goes with a low voice, "Why'd ya come Loki?"

Loki pulls out his phone and starts texting, "You wanted me to take you to Claudia's today, remember?"

"Oh right! I almost forgot!" She mentally facepalms, "I set everything up last week!" then she puts on a sheepish smile, "Oh… haha, sorry, I almost forgot." while she thinks, _"The sooner I get these fragments, the sooner I can fix everything back home."_

"Heh." Loki chuckles, "Ok then Linka." He quickly finishes what he's doing and then shoves his phone back in his pocket, "Anyways, I gave the weird devices that those two hunters had to Levi. He's lookin' them over right now ok?"

"Got it bro." The girl nods, before she grabs her purse and secures the Matter Key Watch to her wrist; "I hope Levi finds something soon… I barely know how to use my own… thing."

After that, Loki and Linka both nod and head out of the home, with Loki making sure to announce, "K mom and dad, I'm taking Linka to Claudia's!"

And their parents respond, "Understood, make sure you hurry home! You're still grounded remember!"

Loki grits his teeth and answers, "Yeah mom!" and with that, they leave the residence.

Given the fact that they had run this trip countless times before, it only takes the duo a few minutes to reach the dark-skinned girl's home, where they step up to the front door and ring the bell.

*Ring* the door buzzes for a moment, before a familiar, dark-skinned woman answers the door. She looks at the two young people waiting at her door and smiles, "Hailey! Claudia's got visitors!"

"Awesome Helen!" the woman's partner responds, "I'm almost done… and there!" A few quick moments later, a light-skinned woman walks out of a nearby room with their daughter by her side, "Claudia's dress is done!"

Linka immediately turns to her brother, "K Loki, you can go home now!"

"You gonna be ok sis?" The young man looks at his little sister in concern, and she nods in response, "Yeah, we're not doin' anything crazy after all!"

"Ok then." He turns away and begins to walk, "Have fun Linka! Call when you're ready to go home!" And with that, he steps out of sight.

"Alright, Claudia, you have fun dear!" Helen goes, before both her and her partner walk out of the room, leaving the two pre-teens alone.

"So Linka…" Claudia rubs her arm nervously, "You ready to head over to Cristopher's house?"

"Yeah Claud." She responds, making sure her bag is secure as she does so, "You made sure the guys knew we were comin' over, right?"

Claudia nods, "Yeah, they're waitin' for us right now." She chuckles, "Ron Andy's excited to see ya, especially since Bebe's still grounded from the thing you told me about two weeks ago."

"Awesome." Linka then turns and steps out the door, while Claudia grabs her purse. Together, they head out onto the sidewalk and head towards the home of one of their friends… and the suspected location of the second fragment.

"So uhh… why'd you suddenly decide to pay Cristopher a visit?" Claudia turns to her white-haired friend, "I mean, just one random day you decide to go visit him?"

Linka chuckles, "Yeah Claudia, I was curious about his computer problems and decided that the best way to figure out what's going on would be to go ahead and ask him!" She looks ahead, "Plus, I knew you needed an excuse to see Cristopher again."

Immediately, her dark-skinned friend blushes in embarrassment, "What are you talking about?!"

"Don't try to hide it, I know Claudia," Linka answers with a smug smile. "I know what you think I didn't know, which is in fact something I've know for quite a while."

"I-" Claudia starts, only for Linka to stop in front of their destination- a small white home with a brick bottom and wooden top, the home of one Cristopher Tighs.

"We're here!" She declares, cutting her friend off and stepping onto the property as she does so, "Come on, we need to get there while it's still early!"

Claudia takes a deep breath, before pushing the gnawing feeling her chest away and repeating, _"Do you like boys or girls? Do you like boys or girls?"_ And following her friend over to the front door.

With two knocks, Linka calls, "Hey Cristopher, it's Claudia and Linka! We're here to help you with your… "Computer issues"!"

"Coming!" A soft, masculine voice responds, before the front door opens, revealing a young, brown-skinned boy with black hair.

Immediately, Linka blushes, "Hey Ron Andy!"

"Sup Linka." He goes, before turning to her friend, "And hey Claudia."

"Hey Ron Andy." Claudia goes in a low voice, choosing not to look at the boy.

Ron Andy shrugs, before stepping aside and motioning for the girls to come inside, and they comply. Then he shouts, "Yo Cris! The girls are here for ya!"

"Awesome!" The red-haired boy responds, before rushing down the stairs with his laptop in hand, "It's great to see you two!"

"Hey Cris-" Linka starts… only for Cristopher to grab her hand and pull her into the next room.

"Well… that just happened." Ron Andy goes, before turning to Claudia.

"I guess he's just really excited to finally have his computer fixed or something." Claudia quips, blushing as she thinks, _"Oh that guy is so dreamy when he gets excited."_

Ron Andy then steps into the next room, "Well, there's no use in waitin' round for em'. Come on!"

Immediately, the dark-skinned girl flinches back to reality, "Huh?" Then follows when she realizes that she had been left alone, "Coming!"

A few feet away, Cristopher motions Linka to sit in the couch, which she does, before he places his laptop in front of her, "Well, I was surprised that you wanted to take look, but I can't really say no to the idea that someone could fix my computer."

"First Cris." Linka starts, moving her arms down and up, signaling for the redhead to calm down, "I just have an idea of what could possibly be wrong, it's nothing definite."

The boy takes a deep breath and nods, "Got it…"

With that done, Linka turns the computer to face her and starts it up, "So, when does the… 'error' usually happen?"

"Only when I try to visit websites." The redhead answers, his voice filling with despair, "I took it to every single repair shop in royal woods and even sent it to the manufacturer for repairs, but they always came up empty." He turns to face his other two friends, "A lot of people just say that I have a really bad virus!" He holds his arm, "But I'm not sure, I got the best anti-virus programs on the market…"

"Have you tried replacing the computer?" Claudia tilts her head in curiosity.

Cristopher glares at her, "Claudia, you don't just tell someone to replace the computer they've had for over two years!" He motions at the offending device, "I have everything I've ever done on the darn thing! And it works perfectly fine!"

"Ok, I need you to type in your password." The white-haired girl finally speaks up, cutting Cristopher off.

Quickly, Cristopher does so, and his home screen pops up… only to reveal the image of a scantly-clad anime princess in a dark purple bra and spandex pants. She has black hair and dark purple fox-like ears, as well as light skin.

" _You know… a few months ago I probably would've enjoyed this more."_ The girl thinks, before taking hold of the computer once more and scrolling over to his browser- Expedition Gold. "Well, let's see what pops up."

And with that, she clicks, immediately opening the browser window.

The four children's hearts race in anticipation for what evil, messed-up, and depraved thing was about to appear on screen.

The page takes a moment to load, only to reveal: .

Imemdiately, Claudia, Linka and Ron Andy turn to Cristopher in shock.

"What?!" He goes, pulling his arms in as he does so, "I don't know why it's not working… usually, whenever I type in something, It redirects me to another page or something!"

Linka rubs her chin for a moment, _"Weird… I wonder what's-"_

"How about you use the computer then Cris?" Ron Andy speaks up, cutting off the girl's thoughts, "I mean, if it only happens when you use it, then maybe it's something you're doing that's causing the problem."

Cristopher hesitates, "Are you sure this is the only way to prove my 'computer issues'?"

"Well..." Claudia rubs the back of her head, "Since it doesn't happen when Linka does it, I'm pretty sure we won't get to see what happens unless you show us."

The young boy looks at his three friends, and sighs, "All right then…" He slowly sits down on the couch next to Linka and turns the laptop to face him. Carefully, he types in the URL to an innocuous site: .

Ron Andy stands behind Linka, while Claudia stands behind Cristopher as the boy slowly, types and hits "enter". "Here we go." he whispers, no doubt the four children's hearts race once more.

A blue bar fills the entry box for a moment… before the small light in the back of his computer's display begins to glow brighter.

" _What the?"_ Linka thinks, before glancing down at the watch she had kept for so long.

Immediately, the text in the entry box begins to reroute, sending Cristopher's computer through hundreds of addresses, before stopping at an image… of Lincoln "in bed" with Lori.

The four children look on in shock for a moment, unsure of how to respond… thought Cristopher is the first to break the ice with, "Now do you guys believe me?!"

Linka, Claudia and Ron Andy shake their heads, and look at the boy in shock and confusion.

"Yeah… we believe you now." Ron goes, while Linka simply raises her matter key watch.

" _Well… I guess let's see if it's what I think it is…"_ And with a quick read, she sees, _**"Dimensional Waves Detected!"**_ While the incessant flashing told her that the part was nearby.

She takes a deep breath, "Ok guys, I know what's causing this."

"Yeah?" Cristopher tilts his head in confusion, "A virus? A hacker? My Canadian Ex?"

"No." Linka takes another deep breath and stands up, "I'll make this quick, there's a fragment of infinite power around here, and because of it, Cris' computer is acting up." She turns and looks her friends in the eyes, "Though, I'm not sure why it's only affecting him."

"What?" Ron tilts his head in confusion, "What the heck are you talkin' about?"

" _Right… I have to explain almost everything… again. Man this gets annoying."_ Linka facepalms, "Ya know what? How about I just explain while we look for it." Then she turns and begins to search, "I need you guys to find something that's silver with golden highlights or something." And with that, the girl starts her search in the kitchen.

"Are we seriously going to go on a snape hunt and not ask her any questions?" Ron Andy shoves his hands in his pockets.

Cristopher nods, "If it means I get my computer back, then I don't mind at all." And with that, he heads upstairs and begins searching his room.

"Well then, we better get to work." Claudia quips, before searching the area around the front door.

Ron stares off for a moment, _"What else is Linka hiding? What the heck is she talking about and how did she know what's going on?"_ He sighs, _"Ehh, Loki or Levi must've told her or something."_ And with that, he turns and begins to search the living room.

And so, Linka begins to speak, "Ok guys, here's what's going on…"

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

After one "brief" explanation and fragment search, the four children stand in front of the home's Wi-Fi router.

"So… what'll happen when you mess with the fragment-thing?" Cristopher nervously asks, "Will everything get fixed and stuff?"

Linka takes a deep breath, "We're gonna have to complete the fragment's game I think… after all, that's what happened when I tried to get the first."

"And what will this game be?" Claudia tilts her head curiously.

"Don't know." She shrugs, "The last one was a game of hide and seek, so I'm not sure what it could be this time." She the turns to her friends, "I'll understand if you guys don't wanna take the risk today."

The three friends look at each other for a moment and shrug, before Cristopher speaks up, "I'll do anything to get my computer back."

"And I'm not letting you do anything dangerous without me." Ron Andy continues, while Claudia simply nods in affirmation.

"Ok then." Linka takes a deep breath. Her heart races in both nervousness and excitement as she turns to the small black box and slowly, touching the two golden antennas.

Immediately the router glows with green and purple lights, before the golden, club-shaped parts break off and begin the float in front of the group. They are thinner at the end, than at the front, and whileone has a small purple crystal secured at its end, the other has a green one.

A small orb of energy forms between the two crystals, as the fragment's twin halves begin to form a small, ying-yang symbol.

"Well... that happened." Ron shoves his hands in his pockets, "So what now, Girl-O?"

The girl responds by grabbing at the device. Her heart races faster than ever before as she slowly approaches it, and places her hand on its golden covering.

Immediately, the fragment glows, engulfing the room in harsh, green and purple light- forcing the four children to shield their eyes.

When it dies down, the four children find themselves standing on top of a single platform made of hardlight.

"What's going on?!" Cristopher shouts, before the device glows once more, and projects the image of a slightly younger Linka.

"Hey there!" The being cheerfully greets, "I'm the Guardian of the Filament!"

Linka doesn't hesitate to step forward, though her companions simply stand back, unsure of what to make of the world around them.

The being doesn't hesitate to fly over to Linka in response, "Oh, you seem like quite the energetic young girl!" She disappears and reappears behind the girl, "It looks like you're in the mood for a game huh?!"

"Actually, I'd rather just get the fragment if possible." Linka flatly answers, much to the being's dismay.

"Oh yeah?!" It goes, before appearing in front of the group, with crossed arms, "Well congrats, I don't care!" She snaps her fingers, causing the world around them to turn into a lush, forested cityscape.

"What the heck?" The four children go, as the being nonchalantly floats around them, "Welcome to my challenge!"

The figure snaps her finger again, "If you wanna get the Filament, you have to entertain me!"

"Ok then…" Linka goes, only for Cristopher to speak up, "And what happens if we entertain you?!"

"I'll let you take the Filament and stuff." The being easily answers… only for Cristopher to counter, "What about my computer?! I don't flippin' care about a mac-whatever fragment! I just want my computer fixed!"

The being places her hand over her mouth as she cutely chuckles, "Haha! Ok then Cristopher! I promise that if you entertain me well enough, I'll stop exploiting your over-the-top reactions to my redirects for my own amusement!"

Cristopher grits his teeth in response.

Linka then turns to her friends once more, "Guys, you sure you wanna do this? You don't have to be involved if you don't want to."

"It's not like we have much of a choice now do we?" Claudia goes, while Ron Andy adds, "You are aware you have so much explaining to do later, right?"

"Yeah." Linka responds.

"Anyways!" The being floats in front of the four, "My challenge is simple." She motions towards a small mountain hidden out in the distance, "I'll leave the filament at the base of the mountain. All you have to do is entertain me by spilling your juicy secrets!" She disappears and reappears between Claudia and Cristopher, "I've got four challenges for you! Remember, the only way to move on is to spill!" Then she reappears in front of the group once more, "And remember, nothing is what it seems!"

And with that, he being disappears.

"Well that just happened…" Claudia quips.

Ron Andy, Claudia and Cristopher then look at the white-haired girl in front of them. "So what do we do now Linka?"

The young girl responds by turning to face the path ahead, "Well, I guess we have no choice, but to push ahead." She motions for her friends to follow, "Now come on, let's go, we're burnin' daylight and stuff."

"Man, are those things always so vague and annoying?" Ron Andy quips, "Also, you've got more explaining to do Linka." he comes to the young girl's side and walks with her, while their friends walk together behind them.

"What's their to explain Ron?" Linka puts her arms behind her head, "We're boyfriend and girlfriend after all. The only secret we keep from each other till marriage is what is in our pants."

The young boy gives a soft chuckle.

"Anyways guys, I guess we just have to start spilling secrets… hopefully something'll be the thing the fragment guardian wants to hear."

"Ok then…" Cristopher goes in response, "So uhh… who starts?"

The four children walk along in silence for a moment, unsure of just who should get to break the ice first… though given the pressing matter of her mission, Linka decides to start, "Well… I always wanted to be a ballerina…"

"Heh, really Linka?" Ron's face immediately goes blush, most likely at the thought of the white-haired girl next to him in a ballet dress.

"Yeah Ron." She continues, "But I could never find the time to go and do it… cause I had to deal with my bros and stuff."

"Of course." The boy chuckles, "I've always wanted to do field hockey and wrestling, but I haven't cause my parents worried I'm gonna get thrown across a gym or broken in half."

Linka chuckles as well.

"Oh yeah?!" Claudia shouts, "You think those are secrets?!" She pulls out a small oven mitt, "I always carry an over mitt around just in case I need to grab something hot!"

"I'm not sure what to make of that Claudia, "Cristopher quips, "All I do is play videogames in my underwear."

" _Lucky! I haven't been able to do anything in my underwear without my brothers warning me that boys would stare!"_ Linka immediately thinks.

Nothing happens… save for the soft voices of the plants around them slowly becoming audible.

As they head on, a soft, romantic mood fills the forest around them, with dim lights and soft, bird-like music flowing through the air. Light pink slowly edges its way into the plant life and animals, while more hearts begin to appear. The barely audible voices from early begin to increase in strength as they whisper, "Do it and go beyond!"

" _I don't wanna know what they mean by that."_ Linka thinks as a beautiful melody begins to echo through the forest. _"What the?"_

Upon hearing that, the two boys stop talking and simply follow the beautiful sound as they approach the source. Claudia, seems to become more antsy as they press forward as well… for some reason.

"You ok Clauds?" Linka tilts her head towards her friend, while the boys walk ahead of them, drawn by the beautiful song.

"Y-yeah… I'm fine." She responds, no doubt trying to fight a soft ache in her chest.

"I mean… you like girls don't ya?" Linka asks, "If the boys have gone full mindless over this, shouldn't you be too?"

Claudia shrugs, "Not sure." She glances at her slightly shaking hand, "I guess girls are just immune…"

" _I wonder what's the source…"_ Linka thinks, before the boys suddenly stop, and push away some pink shrubs, revealing a soft hotspring.

" _Well, this challenge has gotten interesting…"_ Linka thinks, before stepping to the boy's sides, and looking out on the lake.

In the foggy steam, the young children can make out at three fish-like ladies sitting on a rock.

"So, that's the source of this song huh?" Linka goes, beore turning to the boys… who just stand at the sea edge, unwilling to break their gaze for a moment… before they both jump in the water to swim over to them.

"Crud." Linka goes, before turning to Claudia, "Those are sirens! We have to stop the boys!" Claudia antsily nods, before jumping in the water too, followed by her best friend.

The young Linka wastes no time rushing over and grabbing Ron Andy… though given their strength differences… in doesn't take him too long to just start pulling Linka along for the ride. "Oh no!" She screams, "Claudia! Help!"

Claudia meanwhile, grabs Cristopher, though just like her friend, he wastes no time breaking from her grip. _"Get ahold of yourself Claudia!"_ The dark-skinned girl thinks, _"You like… boys? Do you? Do you like girls?"_ Claudia floats back for a moment, treading water as the siren's song fills her thoughts.

A few feet away, Linka desperately holds onto her boy, while she painfully shouts, "Claudia! I-" Water is forced into her mouth from the boy's erratic swimming, "I would love some-" More water goes in, only for her to spit it out. "Help please! Before it's too late!"

" _I… I can't…"_ Claudia hits her head against the warm water in a desperate attempt to calm herself down. She quietly looks towards her friends, Cristopher and Ron Andy were slowly approaching jagged rocks that would no doubt kill them if they continued swimming the way they do. _"The song… speaks to me… but it doesn't…"_

Then, the realization hits her, _"My whole life… I've been taught that I could love anyone I wanted to…"_ Thousands of thoughts begin to flood her mind, _"My parents never said encouraged me one way or the other, but they smiled just as much when you came to pick me up for the dance as they did when I said I was thinking about Linka."_ Determination fills her body, _"And I have to admit… I like both of them that way…"_

Her expression hardens as she forces her head up from the water and shouts, "I secretly like both boys and girls!"

Immediately, the siren's stop singing in tune, causing the two boys to stop swimming towards them.

"What the heck?" Ron Andy goes, before turning and shouting, "Linka!" before, he dives after the white-haired girl and helps her up from the water.

Linka coughs a bit, before smiling, "Thanks Ron."

"You ok Link?" He asks, before looking around, "What happened?"

"Something very abrupt and involving fish ladies." Linka quips, before turning to Claudia, "But Claudia saved us by spilling her secret huh?"

Claudia nods, before swimming over and helping Cristopher tread.

"So… you're bi?" Cristopher asks, tilting his head as he does so.

The girl blushes, "I guess I am…"

"Heh, well I guess that explains you dancing with me and kissing Linka." The boy chuckles.

"Well I-"

"Yo guys, come on!" Ron Andy goes, "Just cause the water's nice doesn't mean we can stay in it all day!"

"Coming!" The two respond, before swimming back to shore and, with their friend's help, getting out of the water.

Immediately, they start to dry themselves off and the being from before appears in front of them.

"Haha! That was very entertaining!" She goes, before playfully punching Claudia's arm, "Now time for the second trial!" And with that, the figure disappears once more, and a small, light-blue path opens up ahead of them.

"Heh, well I guess we know where to go next." Linka quips, before stepping onto the icy path.

"Can't we at least dry off first?" Claudia asks, "Because…" She motions at the path ahead, instead of the forested city they had been walking along, the forest suddenly ends, only to open up as an icy cityscape.

"Yeah, let's dry off." Linka goes.

And a few minutes after that, they are cleaned off and back on their beaten path.

*Berr* "It's freezing here!" Cristopher quips, rubbing his shoulders in an attempt to keep warm.

Given his thick coverings, Ron Andy simply remains steadfast as he moves forward, with Linka and Claudia standing next to the boys, shivering as well.

"So, the first trial was completed by Claudia." Ron Andy declares, and Linka answers, "Yeah… I guess that means us three are gonna have to spill some stuff as well."

The boys sighs, "Ok then, no problem." He looks up at the city with that. Around him is nothing, but random iced up buildings. Snow is piled high around the path that had been carved just for them. Unlike the previous segment, there was little surviving plant life… though given what's around, that is to be expected.

The children move on through the segment is silence, with the only sounds coming from the howling wind around them, and the minor complaints that would arise every now and then.

Eventually, they find themselves in the city center, with a small dried up fountain and several unattended storefronts about.

"Well this is boring." Linka quips, "If that guardian wanted us to entertain her, you'd think she would, I don't know, make it so we'd be doing something more interesting than just walking through an empty city for two hours…"

Then, a single snowflake falls.

"Well this is just great, it's starting to snow too!" Claudia complains.

Immediately, the snow picks up. With a flurry of flakes coming down faster, and faster, creating a full-blown blizzard before the children are even able to stand up to it!

"Guys!" Linka shouts, before grabbing Ron Andy's arm, "We have to get out of here! Duck into one of the closed up shops and wait it out!" Though, given the sheer noise created by the sudden storm, she doesn't even know if she could be heard.

And with a desperate push, Linka and Ron Andy force their way into a small pastry restaurant. The duo looks around for a moment, before calmly dusting themselves off and taking a seat at one of the empty tables.

A soft, cold air overtakes them, though that may have just been caused by the slightly open door just a few feet away.

"Wow, well that storm came suddenly." Linka quips, leaning back into her chair as she does so, "I mean, dang. That was unexpected."

Ron Andy chuckles, "Yeah. It reminds me of the night I met Chandler." He leans back as well.

For a moment, they sit in silence, unsure of what else they could do. _"So… we're stuck here for some reason…"_ Linka thinks, _"I guess it couldn't hurt to finally get some answers from him…"_

"Hey Ron…" Linka starts, catching the boy's attention, "Yeah Linka?"

"You never told me… what's gone on between you and Chandler?" The young girl leans in closer; "She seems to hate me for no reason and mentioned I stole you from her."

"Well… since we don't have anything better to do…" The boy sighs in defeat, "I didn't really want to ever tell you the reason… since I've been afraid about what you'd think."

" _I wonder why that is…"_ Linka thinks, before putting on an understanding smile, "Don't worry Ron, I won't get mad. Come on, tell me."

The boy takes a deep breath, "I don't have much of a choice now do I?" Linka responds by motioning towards the blizzard outside, "Right… the blizzard." He sighs and thinks, _"At least the others aren't around to hear this."_

And so, he breathes in and goes, "I few years ago, I met Chandler in a snowstorm like this." He chuckles as his voice fills with nostalgia, "I'll admit, that was the first time I actually felt like I enjoyed spending time with someone."

"So what happened?" Linka tilts her head in curiosity.

Ron Andy smiles, "I met you."

Linka immediately blushes with that.

"Heh," He leans back, "Together we were the closest we could be, we broke almost all of the school's rules on PDA." He takes another deep breath, as he turns to face her, "Believe it or not, I didn't always like you much." He stares at her with an unwavering gaze, "You always seemed so quiet and out of the way."

"So what got you to notice me?" Linka nervously asks.

"Of course you'd ask that." The boy chuckles, "Well, I guess it was the way you stood up to Chandler the first time all those months ago." He looks at her with amour-like eyes, "You seemed so strong and determined, despite the insults she was throwing at her." He chuckles again, "Though, I have to admit, I didn't understand why you ran away after she insulted your dress."

" _Neither do I."_ Linka thinks, looking upon the boy with amour-like eyes as well. "So what happened?"

The boy hesitates, " I started thinking of you more and more, I couldn't get you out of my head!" He runs his hand through Linka's hair, "Your long white hair, your cute freckles, and the determination you seemed to have…" Then he nervously rubs the back of his head, "Chandler noticed and got angry." Then he looks at her with a straight face, "So when she decided to bully you again, I had a choice to make, either let her do so or stand up for you."

"Heh, and since you decided to stand up for me, we're here now." Linka quips, causing the boy to nod.

"So why didn't you mention it before Ron?" Linka tilts her head once again.

"Cause I never saw a reason to tell it." He smiles, "Think about it, class helper Ron Andy used to date the class arsehole Chandler Midwest!" He puts on a smug smile, "Wouldn't you wanna hide the fact that you spent time with that arsehole?"

Linka chuckles, "Good point Ron. Good point."

Then, the boy takes Linka's hands in his own, "Remember Linka, no matter what happens, I'll never leave you."

The girl blushes, and before either knows what's going on, they lean in and give a soft kiss.

Immediately, the room around them heats up, filling the store with a warm air.

The blizzard outside immediately stops with that.

The couple continues to kiss, neither willing to break their loving embrace…

Only for their two companions to run into the decrepit pastry shop with, "Guys! The blizzard's gone! And-"

Claudia and Cristopher look on in shock for a moment, before Claudia speaks up, "Uhh, guys, I think we should get a move on."

Immediately, Ron Andy and Linka break up and blush in embarrassment.

"Haha you two!" Cristopher throws his head back in laughter, before calmly wiping a tear, "Let's get out of here, the path to the next segment just opened up."

Linka and Ron Andy look at each other once more, and nod, before following their friends out of the abandoned restaurant.

After they return to the path, the icy city disappears, only to turn into sandy, desert ruins, no doubt what the world would look like if certain people go off the deep end.

"First a forest city, then an ice city and now a desert city?" Ron Andy goes, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think I'm playing on one of those fields your brothers use to play card games."

"Heh, yeah." Linka chuckles, before turning to face the boy and the girl behind them, "How are you two holding up?"

"We're fine." Cristopher goes, "So far, this challenge hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be."

"Now Cristopher, don't tempt fate." Claudia goes, "Given how a blizzard just popped out of nowhere and ended just as abruptly, I'm not willing to say anything until it happens."

"Heh, of course." He counters, motioning at the mountain ahead as he does so, "We're almost to the mountain at least!"

"Heh yeah, and there should be two more trials before we get there." Linka speaks up, before pointing at a nearby hill above a small hole, "How about we head over there to get a better look?"

The group nods in agreement, and the four young children rush to the top of the oversized sand dune.

Once at the top they look out, into their vast surroundings. Nothing but sand and ruins for miles around them. "Well this isn't interesting." Claudia quips.

"Yeah, at least we know where to go though." Linka counters, before turning around, "Come on, let's get-" Suddenly, Linka slips on the sand, and grabs Cristopher in an attempt to hold on… only to accidently drag him down with her.

Ron Andy and Claudia immediately jump into action, making sure to grab them before any harm could befall them… except while Ron Andy is athletic enough to hold onto Linka… Claudia ends up falling down the hill along with Cristopher.

"Guys!" Linka shouts as they watch their friends fall into the abyss. "No…"

A few minutes later Claudia and Cristopher awaken in front of a brightly lit computer.

"What the… Where are we?" Cristopher goes, while Claudia takes a seat in front of the computer.

" _ **You're starting to bore me! So why don't you go surf the web for a bit? I'm sure it'll be plenty interesting to see!"**_ A soft voice commands.

"Ok…" Claudia quips, before scrolling on the computer.

A hard rage begins to fill Cristopher's very being "No!"

He pushes her away from the computer, "I'm sick of this! I'm sick of having sick, horrific crud shoved in my face every time I try to look up fail videos or gaming tips! I'm sick of having M rated stories about people I actually know disguised as Teen! I've finally found a girl I like! I finally have a bearing on what normal is! And I'm not going to let this perverted perversion of the laws of physics take it away from me! You will not ruin Claudia like you ruined me!"

" _ **Wow… I just wanted to have some fun, kill joy."**_ The voice continues in an annoyed tone.

"Cristopher…" Claudia goes, "You… like me?"

"Heh…" The boy awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "I kinda do. You always seemed to be more interesting than anyone else I've ever met." He takes a deep breath, "Ever since you kissed me and told me not to think about it… well I just couldn't stop thinking about it!" The young boy grabs the girl's hands, "I know this is strange, but, I like Claudia."

Claudia smiles, "You know, I was never pushed to like someone." She holds his hand tighter, "Ever since I was little, everyone thought I'd end up like my moms or something. But… despite me saying not to think about it, well… I couldn't forget it either." She looks at him with a soft, loving gaze, "How about after we finish this, we go out for a smoothie or something?"

Cristopher smiles, "Sure Claudia, I'd love that."

The dark room around them immediately lights up, illuminating a small staircase, and with it lit, they duo exits out of the strangely placed room.

 _ **A few moments later…**_

"Guys! You're all right!" Linka shouts, throwing her arms around her two friends as she does so, "Did you guys spill the next secret?!"

They both nod, "Yeah."

And with that, the path ahead opens up once more, leading them to the base of the mountain, just as they had been promised.

" _Well, I guess my secret is next."_ Linka thinks, before the quartet continues off to their final destination.

It takes close to an hour for them to make their way out the desert and into the final area, the forest base of the mountain. With steeled resolve and three out of their four secrets revealed, they press forward.

The path leads them into a small cave, with hot magma under the rocky platforms.

"How are you not overheating Ron?!" Linka nervously asks, only for the boy to respond, "I'm too cool for that."

" _I shall have Levi look at him later."_ Linka thinks, before stepping forward into the main area of the cave.

The room a massive, with a partially magma floor, with pure water flowing into small holes to the side. To the untrained eye, this would seem to have been made by human hands, but given the offset parts, it was obvious this was natural.

Yet, instead of looking around to bask in the beauty of their final trial, Linka stands by, her gaze focused upon the golden fragment floating over a pool of hot magma.

"Well guys, come on, we're almost done." Linka goes, before entering the room.

"Computer, you will be mine!" Cristopher shouts in excitement, while Ron Andy and Claudia follow, though unsure of just how to react.

"Ok guys, stand back." Linka commands, before stepping onto the small rock path that leads to the floating fragment. The young girl's heart races in antivcipation as she reaches for the part. _"Almost there…"_

" _ **This seems too easy… plus, the white-haired girl hasn't spilled her secret yet!"**_ A familiar voice shouts, before the fragment guardian appears in front of the girl and continues, "I know!"

The being then shouts, "I invoke the powers of the guardian of order!" Immediately, the being raises two magma arms and two water legs, "Spill your secret or I will kick your arses!"

" _Dangit."_ Linka thinks befopre turning and running back to the group. "Scatter!"

"Haha! You can't run from me!" The being shouts before using its water hands to easily grab onto Ron Andy, Claudia and Cristopher. She shows her three victims off for a moment, before taunting, "See! You can't run!"

" _I dreaded this moment."_ Linka thinks as she stands before the elemental being.

"Well, what'll it be?" She shouts.

"Come on Linka! You have to tell her!" Claudia Shouts.

Cristopher than adds on, "I need my computer!"

"No matter what happens Linka." Ron shouts, "I'll still love you! You're my girl!"

" _No I'm not."_ Linka thinks, before putting on a determined expression. She grits her teeth, and shouts, "The truth is, I'm not Linka!"

"What?!" The three confined children shout.

"Go on, explain yourself!" The being shouts, "This has just gotten interesting!"

With tear-filled eyes Linka continues, "The truth is, I'm just her male counterpart from another reality! I told you about saving the multiverse already, but I didn't tell you that I come from a reality in which our genders are swapped!" She looks down in shame, "I messed up and now the only way for me to get home is to find these fragments…"

Ron Andy looks on in shock, as does Cristopher. Yet, Claudia speaks up, "Why didn't you tell me sooner Linka?! I'm your best friend aren't I?!" The dark-skinned girl fights against her liquid bonds.

"I would've…" Linka grabs hold of her arm, "But I…" Suddenly, the realization hits her, _"Why didn't I tell Claudia sooner? She's Linka's best friend…"_

"Continue." The being goes, a smug smile forming on its face.

"And Ron Andy…" Linka turns to the boy, "I know I'm not really her… but well, ever since I swapped places with her, her body started to impose its will on me, I guess…" She looks toward the being, its monstrous arms slowly falling apart. "But the truth is… I love you too Ron!"

The boy looks on in shock for a moment, before looking down.

The being smiles, "Ooo, I feel like someone else wants to spill some feelings now!"

Linka looks at the boy she had just earlier kissed, "R-Ron?"

"Don't you dare call me that, faker!" the boy glares at her, "Don't you think I deserved to know that the girl I was spending time with wasn't even the girl I liked?!"

"Ron, I'm sorry but, I-" Linka stammers.

He takes a deep breath, "I dated you, I told you my secrets, I even was willing to do what our families said and date until we married! But, you've been lying to me this whole time?!" He looks at her with begging eyes, "What else don't I know huh?! I loved Linka!"

"I'm sorry I tricked you!" Linka counters, "But if it's any consolation, I really do like you back!"

Ron doesn't respond, choosing instead to look away, though unsure of it is in shame.

Claudia than speaks up, "Linka was my best friend Link…" She looks away, choosing no longer to fight the water that holds her in place, "But… I guess you've been a better friend than she ever was."

Linka perks up, "Really?"

The girl painfully nods, "Yeah…" She sighs, "The real Linka never spent too much time with me… she barely even talked! But you…" She looks away, "I guess having a really good friend I could talk to was too good to be true…"

"Claudia… Ron…" The girl whispers.

The being them lowers them and breaks the water chains, "Ahh, that was fun don't you think?" The being chuckles once more, "Now around this point I'd trigger a beacon, but who cares!" She throws her head back in laughter, "You guys were so entertaining I won't screw you guys over by calling nearby people to come and retrieve me!"

And with that, the second fragment falls into Linka's hands.

 _ **"Filament Detected! Absorbing!"**_ The matter key watch goes and with that, the pseudo-space disappears, leaving the four children back in front of the router.

"So… that just happened…" Linka quips.

Cristopher silently nods, before walking over to his laptop and booting it up. It takes a moment, for him to sign in and start up his browser, but when he finally does, he's able to surf without trouble.

You did it, linka!" he shouts, "I can surf the web safely now!" Then he throws his arms around the girl, "Thanks so much!"

Linka smiles, "No problem." Before she turns to her two other friends.

"So uhh… hey." She awkwardly rubs the back of her head. "I'm Lincoln Loud of Dimension C-137."

Claudia stares at her for a moment, and sighs, "I'll talk to you later Link… Lincoln." Her voice fills with a hard solemnity, "Because one, it looks like you've got some talking to do with Ron Andy, two, because I need time to think about what I was just told, and three…" She walks over to Cristopher and takes his hand in her own, "I've goin' to go get smoothies with Cris here."

Linka nods, "Ok."

"So ready to celebrate?" Claudia asks the boy, who promptly nods in response, "Yeah. Can we go to the arcade after we go get smooties?"

Though hesitant, Claudia nods, "Sure, I'd love that!" And with that, they step out of the home, leaving Linka and Ron Andy alone.

The girl looks at the boy and nervously rubs her arm, "So uhh, hey, I-"

She would continue, but Ron Andy sending his fist right into her gut says otherwise.

"You… I don't know what to call you." Ron goes, anger filling his voice. "I… I loved Linka! I did everything for her!" He grabs the girls by the shoulders, "Where is she?!" He readies his fist for another punch.

Linka takes a moment to regain her composure, before taking a deep breath and answering, "She's back in my home dimension."

"Yeah, and?!" He continues, "Is she trying to find her way back?!" He clenches his fist tighter, "Don't lie to me!"

The girl grits her teeth, "I'm sorry Ron, she's not."

Ron loosens up in shock, before letting go of the girl, "How long have I been dating you?"

"Since November." She calmly answers.

The boy hesitates for a moment, _"The best time I've ever had with Linka… and it's not even the real Linka…"_ As strong-willed as Ron Andy is, even he can't help be tear up that realization that not only was the girl he had been dating not his own, but that her replacement was better than the real deal!

"I love you Ron." Linka desperately says, causing Ron to look at her with a pained expression.

Without responding, he turns around and declares, "I'm gonna go think… I'll see you on our date later?"

Linka nods, "Sure Ron… sure."

And with that, the boy leaves without another word.

"Well… that could've gone better…" Linka quips, before taking a deep breath, and walking out the home as well, making sure to close the front door on her way out.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

She walks back into the home she had been living in for the past few months in silence. Though, since the brothers are still grounded to their rooms, none notice their lone sister's arrival.

Wordlessly, she walks up the old wooden stairs and over to her room. From there, she drops on the bed and clutches the spot where the boy of her dreams had punched her.

" _What's going on with me? Why does everything hurt so much?!"_ She then glances at the matter key watch one more time, "But at least I have two out of the four fragments…"

She takes a deep breath, and plops on the bed, "What's next to do?"

" _ **Next is an introduction."**_ A familiar masculine voice declares. _**"After all, you haven't seen that much yet."**_

"What, am I gonna become a reality gazer like you?" Linka quips.

" _ **Who knows?"**_ The man chuckles, before appearing by her bedside. _**"Are you ready? By the way, congrats on acquiring the second fragment."**_

19-15-13-5 19-5-3-18-5-20-19 1-18-5 13-5-1-14-20 20-15 19-20-1-25 1-19 19-21-3-8, 1-14-4 25-5-20 14-15 19-5-3-18-5-20 9-19 1-19 19-9-13-16-12-5 1-19 9-20 19-5-5-13-19.

 **A/N Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed! I thank Wolvenstrom for ideas and Exotos for editing this chapter!**

 **And as always, try to guess what story comes next!**


	20. Reality Gazers 3: Reality Gazes Back!

**A/N Hey guys! Great news: My computer came back from the shop just in time for me to write this chapter. Though, I lost the hard drive… good thing I had a backup! A moment of silence for my old workshop. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! I thank everyone who has helped me reach this milestone! 20 chapters in 20 weeks with over 30k views! I appreciate everyone who has helped me get this far and encouraged me to get better!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Interdimensional sightseeing! Now with more siblings! (Planned)**_

Story Twenty: Reality Gazers 3- Reality Gazes Back!

"So uhh…. Why are you here Will?" Linka props herself up on the bed.

The old man adjusts his top hat, "I came to congratulate you. You have successfully found the second Macguffin Fragment." He gives a soft chuckle, "And this time, it only took you four chapters!"

The young girl tilts her head in confusion, "What do you mean by 'chapters'?"

"My apologies." He gazes into her soft, brown eyes, "Sometimes I get universes mixed up."

"Ok then." Linka turns her body and hops to her feet, "Care to explain? I mean, I'm not doing anything…"

"Of course…" William goes in an unwavering voice, "The multiverse is truly massive, after all, infinite universes equal infinite possibilities."

Linka cuts him off, "Yeah, I know that already." She steps over to her desk and takes her goggles in hand, "After all, I have goggles that constantly annoy me by showing me random possible realities." She flares her arms up for emphasis, "There's a universe where my family and I are loaves of bread!"

The old man chuckles, "Yes, of course." Before he motions towards the watch, "There are even universes in which our current actions are nothing more than a story written by a college student with too much free time on his hands." Then he motions toward the girl's holo-gear, "And there is a universe where you have already failed."

"Get to the point please." Linka finally goes, "I already read that chapter of my over-sized quantum physics textbook. I really don't need you confusing me further."

"Yes… of course." William then stands up straight, "I have come to visit for three reasons." He puts his arms behind his back; "The first was to congratulate you for your success, which I have. The second…" He motions towards the girl's Matter Key Watch, "was to show you the power of the fragments you have collected."

"What do you mean?" Linka takes a quick look at the golden watch she had received all those months ago.

William pinches the bridge of his nose, "That was the most straightforward answer I could've given you." He takes a deep breath, "Each fragment has a unique ability and power over reality."

He then taps the watch, causing it to glow for a moment, before it releases the two collected fragments, "Remember when your infant sibling began to teleport randomly and you almost became injured?"

A soft memory of that day flashes across the young girl's mind, "Yeah… That was a fragment's doing?"

William nods, "Yes. The Segment of Space to be exact." He motions at the shield-like fragment, "It allows the user to teleport within a dimension. All they would need is to know where they wish to go." Then he motions towards the dual-club-like device that floats in a ying-yang formation. "And today, you received the Filament of Dimensions. This allows travel between dimensions."

Linka's eyes go wide, "Wait… does this mean I can go home now?!"

"Of course." He chuckles, "But due to the nature of the travel, all you'll end up doing is risking more anomalies… that and the fact that you'll still be, well, Linka when you go."

"Dangit…" Linka whispers, before saying aloud, "So what do you want me to do now?"

The Guardian motions towards the watch, "I want you to concentrate. I want you to focus and enter the interdimension. From there, I will continue my explanation."

"Ok Bill…" Linka takes a deep breath, while the man simply disappears from sight. No doubt he would be waiting for her arrival.

" _Just concentrate Linka."_ She places her hand on the golden object, _"Just do what you did when you almost had a crash landing, nothin' to it."_ And with that, she closes her eyes.

The Matter Key glows with soft, green and purple light for a moment, before the young girl's body glows soft orange, and simply vanishes.

A few moments after that, she opens her eyes… only to find herself standing next to a man dressed in elegant, kingly garments, _"What the…"_ She quickly darts her head around, desperate for an answer, _"Where the heck am I?!"_

The room around her is packed, with people from all walks of life crowding the cramped room. The numerous crucifixes, candles and ornaments breathe of true dedication, _"Wait… I'm in a chapel?"_

Despite the reverent silence, the air is filled with a mournful pain.

" _What the heck is going on?"_ She thinks, before turning to face the altar, just a few feet away. The sacred table was simple- made of only wood and some stone, with candles, bread and wine lining its top.

Yet, in front rests an open coffin.

Linka carefully steps over, unsure of what to expect next. With wavering eyes, she gazes into the wooden box, _"What the…"_

She steps back in shock, _"It's her! That white-haired girl from the time I used the segment!"_

With curiosity filling her body, she leans forward, _"What happened to her? She seemed so… alive the last time I saw her…"_

But, before Linka can finish, however, the world around her begins to melt away and glow with soft light. Though not too hard to see passed, instinctually, she slams her eyes shut and simply waits for it to die down once more.

 _ **A few moments later…**_

" _What the heck?"_ She slowly opens her eyes, only to be met by a familiar array of colors, "I'm… in the interdimension again?"

"Yes Lincoln." A familiar voice greets, "You phased out for a moment. Care to tell me why?"

Immediately, Linka hops to her feet and scans the area around her, desperate to find the Guardian that had led her so far. "Where are you Will?"

"Up here!" The man responds, and immediately, Linka looks up, only to spot a small, blue, triangular person floating just above her.

"Will?" The girl tilts her head, "Why do you look like that?"

"I thought it would be interesting." He responds, before glowing for a moment and regaining his humanoid form, "Welcome to the multiverse."

"Yeah, yeah, I've been here before." She complains, "Why did you bring me here?"

"Still as eager as ever, my young padawon." William chuckles, before turning around, "It's beautiful isn't it?" He motions towards the majestic patterns that permeate the lightly colored space.

Linka takes a deep breath, _"He's not going to let me go unless I play along…"_ The she steps over to him and responds, "Yeah Will, it looks nice."

"Don't worry, I know you wish not to be here longer than you must." The man goes, "I just came here to ask you a question."

"And that would be?" Linka looks up to the man.

He holds his hands behind his back as he asks, "Do you believe there is a perfect world out there?"

Linka shrugs in response, "Yeah. "Infinite universes" means that there is at least one universe where absolutely everything is perfect."

"Of course." The man smiles, "You've learned well, young one, but you have plenty left to learn."

Linka tilts her head in confusion, "Yeah?" Then she shakes it, "William, I really want you to get to the point already, please. I don't think right now is the best time for a philosophy lesson."

"It's not, but I feel that it is necessary before we move on with collecting the fragments."

" _Guide dangit."_ Link thinks, before putting on a sheepish smile, "Ok then, teach me."

William looks up, gazing into the vast expanse that is the multiverse, "Imagine a world, without pain, hunger or want. Where no one died, where no one suffered." He sighs, "But alas, despite the infiniteness of reality, no such universe exists."

"How can that be?" The girl goes, her voice filling with interest.

William turns back to her, "It's a paradox, infinite realities equals infinite possibilities, and yet, this also includes the idea of a universe where nothing is possible." He then stares at her with determined and judging eyes, before he continues, "If you had the choice to create a perfect world, where you and your siblings could live in peace, without worry or fear, would you?"

The young girl hesitates, unsure of how to respond.

"Do not worry, I do not expect you to answer that question." The man assures, "It is just… food for thought. After all, in an infinite universe, it is difficult to think of every possibility." Then, with a snap of his fingers, he opens another portal, "So, care to come explore again?"

"Do I really have a choice?" Linka asks, and William shakes his head, "No my dear. No you do not." Then, he snaps his fingers, "Enjoy!"

And with that, a flash of light bursts across the young girl's face, forcing her to shut her eyes.

When it dies down, they stand before to McBride residence, where surprisingly enough, nothing changed.

"Welcome to dimension BD-12-30-16!" William motions towards the home.

Linka takes a quick look around, "Uhh… what's special about this universe?"

The man remains quiet, and Linka sighs. "Of course." Then she steps forward, and approaches the door. Her heart races as she moves closer to the knob… only for a car to enter the driveway.

"Here we are Lincoln." Harold McBride declares, as he steps out of his car, followed by Linka's dimensional counterpart.

"Yeah… my new home…" The young boy whispers, looking away and tearing up as he does so.

Harold kneels down to the boy's height and places a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Hey Lincoln, chin up. I know that it's gonna be difficult given what happened to… your sisters and parents, but that doesn't mean you can't…" He takes a deep breath, "You know what… let's go inside ok son?"

The Lincoln counterpart silently nods, before following Harold over to the door, where Clyde greets with, "Hey new step-brother!" A desperate desire appears on the dark-skinned boy's face, as if trying to comfort the white-haired boy, but to no avail. And with that, they walk in the home.

"Well… that sure was something Will… what happened here?"

"In this dimension, your five elder sisters and parents died, leaving you orphaned. With your grandfather's permission, the McBrides adopted you."

"Wow, that sounds interesting actually…" Her voice trails off, "I just wonder why so many universes involve some of my family members being, well, gone."

"Some say there are only two storylines, one where someone enters town and another leaves town." The guardian answers.

"I guess…" Her voice fills with dread, "It's just… it gets depressing when you see the same thing so many times. Don't get me wrong, this is an interesting dimension but…"

"Don't let it get to you. Most dimensions like these hold enormous potential for surprise. In fact, I'm going to follow this one and see where it goes." William then rubs his chin, "As for your dark thoughts, I know just how to cheer you up! I'll show you a universe in which you have more siblings!"

"How will that cheer me up?" Linka tilts her head.

And William simply snaps his fingers in response.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

Linka and William stand in the interdimension once more, this time with girl pinching the bridge of her nose annoyance.

"Well, what did you think?" William asks.

"When you mentioned dimensions where I had more siblings, I expected something else…" Linka rubs the back of her head.

"Like?" William leans in closer to her.

"I expected that things would be, well, different! I mean come on! It's like the multiverse just spit out a random person and added them to the family, only for them to do nothing to change stuff!"

"Sometimes the universe has lapses in creativity is all." The man responds, "How about I show you-"

Immediately, Linka cuts him off, "William, no." Her voice fills with annoyance, "I've seen enough of the multiverse to know that everything is possible. Seriously, I've been forced to waste a ton of time because you refuse to be clear about where the fragments are and I really don't wanna see what is at stake, again." She then looks away. "I just wanna see my home and that's it. Please get to the point."

William chuckles, "Very well Lincoln. The next fragment is a fickle thing; it chooses not to be hidden, rather stands out in plain sight. To win its gaze you must woo it like you would a perspective lover!"

Immediately, Linka's face goes red in embarrassment. "Ok then…"

"That was the last thing I wished to tell you." William then tilts his top hat down, "I'll send you home now, you've been gone quite a while."

And with that, the multiverse around her glows with bright light, forcing Linka to shut her eyes once more.

A few moments after that, Linka jolts awake and jumps to her feet. It takes her a moment to calm down and look herself in the mirror once more, _"Heh… ok, I'm back."_ She the turns and looks at her calendar, _"Cool, it's Sunday… That means…"_ She throws herself in her chair and takes hold of her dimensional goggles, _"No worries today… Everyone should be out."_

She then secures the device to her face and hits the power switch.

" _ **Warning: Liquid Divinium Reserves exhausted!"**_ GLaDOS declares, a red screen flashing in front of the young girl's eyes as that happens.

"Seriously GLaDOS?! You run out of Divinium now?!" Linka shouts, flailing her arms up as she does so.

" _ **Well sorry User: Linka Loud. It's not my fault you use me every single chance you get! Keeping a stable link to an alternate dimension is difficult ya know!"**_ GLaDOS counters, her voice filling with annoyance.

Linka responds by taking her off and sighing, "Well this is just great. Now how am I gonna see my sisters again…" Her voice goes low in despair for a moment, before the realization hits her. She immediately puts her hand on the Matter Key watch and focuses.

"Come on…" She holds her breath, desperate for the device to activate. And immediately, the device begins to glow with purple and green light, before the Filament is released.

"Awesome!" She shouts, before grabbing hold of the Macguffin Fragment, "Now I just have to…" With her free hand, she grabs the goggle.

Her heart races as she loosely attaches the filament to her goggles and hits the power button once more. "Here we go." And with that, she puts them on.

" _ **Oh my… User: Linka Loud, what have you done?"**_ GLaDOS goes, her voice filling with pleasure, _**"I feel like someone has stimulated my circuits!"**_

"Did you just…" Linka starts, only to shake her head, "Never mind. Can you show me dimension C-137 now?"

" _ **I feel as if I can do more than that! Opening Interdimensional Communications Channel!"**_ GLaDOS voice fills with excitement, before a flash of light bursts across the young girl's eyes, forcing her to shut them once more.

" _Well this was unexpected."_

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Luke!" Levi shouts, bursting into his older brother's room as he does so.

Luke immediately turns and jumps down from his bed, "What is it bro?"

Levi immediately raises a set of white goggles with an attached microphone and a miniature fuel port attached, "I finished analyzing those strange devices Loki gave me, and great news, with the information I was able to extract, I could finish the goggles!"

"Well about time. I asked for these things like a month ago or something!" Luke goes, annoyance filling his voice

"This was a difficult endeavor, elder brother," He then motions toward the small device he now holds in his hands, "At first I believed that it would a simple matter of using the original goggle design and attaching the microphone." He then motions toward the small device Luke had acquired from Nyla, "But apparently the-"

"Levi, you are aware I have no clue what you're talking about, right?" Luke places his guitar down, "I mean, the only person who would even have a remote idea of what you're talking about is Linka."

"Right." Levi responds, "Curse my IQ of three-fifty." Then he stands up straight, and holds the goggles out for Luke to grab, "No matter, a simple thank you will suffice."

"I'll thank you if these work bro." The elder brother immediately responds, "Because, given your track record, no doubt these are just gonna explode when I put 'em on, right?" then, he takes them in his hands.

The boy shrugs, "I don't know dear sibling." He steps back, "All I can confirm is that they are in working order. This will be its first test run. Absolutely anything can happen when you boot them on."

"I'm not gonna see some crazy stuff am I?" Luke nervously straps the upgraded goggles to his head and begins to fumble with the straps and microphone placement.

"I have decided to use a more… kind AI when designing this model. So no, he is unlikely to send you somewhere that you do not intend to go." Levi then pulls out a clipboard and pen, eager to write down and publish his findings.

"Ok then bro… I'm trusting you with this…" Luke whispers, before flipping the power switch.

Immediately, the onboard A.I. jolts to life, _**"Greetings, I am Dimensional Goggles version one point two, and I am here to assist you."**_ Its voice is filled with a soft professionalism, as it was fully prepared to take over the planet… if it was nothing more than a set of goggles.

"Seriously Levi? Did you really have to pick Wheatley as the voice this time?!" Luke flares his arms up.

"What? You complained about Cortana! And unlike you guys, I don't spend sixteen hours a day on a computer playing mindless videogames." Levi counters, his voice too, filling with annoyance.

"I know, but did you seriously have to pick the idiot?" Luke puts his hand on the goggles, trying to facepalm, "Yeah, this gives me a ton of hope in this actually working."

"Now that I think of it," Levi rubs his chin, "Why do you even want to communicate to alternate realities?"

Luke quickly responds, "No reason, Linka just made me curious is all."

The young boy looks at his elder sibling with curious, judging eyes, "I see, very well then." He then packs up his clipboard and finishes, "In order to use said goggles, you must input the dimensional coordinates. Wheatley will help you figure out where you're going."

"I hope so bro." Luke mutters, "You're not staying?"

"No." The scientist steps out of the room with, "I'll monitor the situation from my own room. Good luck with this test run!"

And with that, Luke watches his genius brother walk out of the room.

" _Well… that could've gone better."_ He sighs, "Ok Wheatley, at least you're not as annoying as GLaDOS."

" _ **Yep! I'm totally epic at this thing! Just have to uhh…"**_ The A.I. nervously goes, _**"Here we go!"**_ Immediately, a small screen pops up in front of Luke's left eye, forcing the young man to close it, _**"One Interdimensional input box! Just type in the coordinates of where you wanna go and the person you wanna talk to when you get there and I'll connect you to it!"**_

"Wheatley!" Luke shouts, "You made the input box too big! I can't see it!"

" _ **Oh, my bad. Uhh… ok then, here it is!"**_ The box shrinks just small enough for Luke to be able to see it properly with that. _"Awesome."_

The young man takes a deep breath, "Ok then Wheatley. I wanna talk to Lincoln Loud, dimension C-137."

" _ **That's all right then! Let's see uhh, how does she do it uhh… Calibrating dimension connections! Loading! Auto calibrating!"**_ The A.I. shouts, _**"Estimated time until complete calibration, twenty minutes!"**_

"Seriously?" Luke groans.

* * *

A few feet away, Levi calmly steps into the center room and greets, "Hello Lars, are you in here?"

Suddenly, the storywriter appears next to him, "Yeah, what are you doin' here?"

Levi jolts up in surprise, before immediately regaining his composure, "I have a favor to ask of you. I have suspicions about our elder sibling Luke's motivation for asking me to create the upgraded dimensional goggles."

"Upgraded goggles?" Lars tilts his head, "What do those do?"

"They allow the user to communicate with people in alternate realities." Levi responds, adjusting his gloves as he does so, "Luke asked me to make them last month, and is currently testing them."

" _Could he be?"_ Lars quickly thinks, "Ok, so what do you need me to do?"

Levi doesn't hesitate to answer, "I need you to spy on him. I highly doubt he'll reveal his true motivations while someone is present."

"I see." Lars hops to his feet and nods, "I'll do it for terms we'll talk about later."

"Fair enough sibling." Levi goes. "Now, I must check on our female sibling,"

Lars tilts his head, "Why?"

"I have a hunch that she has something to do with his sudden curiosity." The young boy then turns around and steps out of the room.

" _Of course she does…"_ Lars then turns and wastes no time climbing into the vent just above his coffin bed.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"GLaDOS! What the heck is going on with you?!" Linka desperately cries out.

" _ **User: Linka Loud, this unit is currently unsure…!"**_ The A.I.'s voice fills with ecstasy, _**"For some strange reason I can feel everything! Whatever fuel source you have input has given me significantly more power transistors!"**_

"Does this mean you have to calibrate or something?" Linka asks.

" _ **Not necessarily User: Linka Loud."**_ The A.I. seems to calm down ever so slightly, _**"However, due to possible anomaly-induced errors, it may be better that a gradual approach be taken. Activate Calibration mode?"**_

"GLaDOS, I really don't care about seeing alternate universes! You've shown me way too much for comfort! Please, just show me my home dimension for once! I just wanna see my sisters again!" Linka's voice fills with an annoyed rage as she continues, "So please, for the love of my sanity please, just go straight there, I really don't care!"

" _ **You-you got it User! Ohhh ohhh!"**_ GLaDOS responds, her voice semi-moaning as she finishes, _**"Calibrating to Dimension C-137! Failed! We're going the long route!"**_

" _Dangit!"_ Linka thinks as a burst of light flashes across her face.

And when she opens her eyes once more, she finds herself standing in a prison cell, with his dimensional counterpart resting in a hard bed.

 _"I'm in… prison here?"_ Linka takes a quick look around, the room's three brick walls and metal door, as well as her counterpart's orange jumpsuit confirmed her suspicions. _"I wonder what I did…"_

The counterpart raises his hand, causing it to glow with soft orange light, but before Linka can continue going through her counterpart, a guard comes by and greets, "You've served your sentence, you're a free man."

"What was that?" The counterpart responds.

"You're a free man, Loud. You've served your sentence. We've called a cab to take you home, so you can pack up and go."

"Hmph. Well it's about freakin' time!" The Lincoln counterpart declares, before hopping off his bed, grabbing his belongings and walking out of the cell.

"Huh, well that was an interesting start." Linka quips, only for GLaDOS to speak up again.

" _ **Ohh… Dimension Designation Detected! Ohh my, we're in dimension SBX-NF-25! Recali-ohh-recalibrating!"**_

And with that, another flash of light bursts across her face. And when she opens them once more, she finds herself back home, though this time she stands in front of the table.

She watches as the counterparts eat… only for the family's usual chaos to ensue, causing everything to fall into disarray.

"I demand an answer to all of this!" Lynn Sr. shouts, his voice filling with rage.

The Lincoln counterpart speaks up, "All right dad, we'll come clean." Then he looks at his father with determined eyes, "However, it requires you having to come clean as well."

"Wha… what do you mean?" Lynn Sr. asks.

Lincoln continues, "Well, we've been acting weird because we all have a question to ask you about. How do we keep getting all this good stuff despite how many we are? We don't know your job in its specifics. So what's your job and how much money do you make?"

The parents shiver for a moment, before running away."

"They're running away?!" Lori shouts.

"It doesn't matter. We follow them!" Lincoln shouts, and with that the Loud Siblings rush out the door as well.

"Heh, that seems fun." Linka quips, "Now that I think of it… I wonder what my dad's job really is…" She shakes her head, "Nah… I doubt its that important."

" _ **Dimen- ohh… dimension FJR-34-3 is the ohh- dimensional designation! Re- recalibrating!"**_

"You ok GLaDOS?" Linka asks, before her eyes go wide, "Wow, I never thought I'd ever ask that question…"

" _ **I've never been better Linka! Never been better!"**_

When Linka opens her eyes this time, she finds herself back home, standing next to the couch, facing her parents. _"Huh, I'm home again…"_

"You're all, minus Lily, will be spending the summer with your Great Uncle Stan in Gravty Falls, Oregon!" Rita Loud happily declares.

Linka's eyes go wide, "Gravity Falls?! I love that show! I used to watch it while it aired!" Then, she turns to face her dimensional counterparts, causing her eyes to go wide. "Di-dipper and Mabel are my siblings in this dimension?!"

"Wow, I guess infinite universes does mean infinite possibilities! Even a universe where I'm siblings with my favorite TV's main characters!" She smiles, "This is so cool I-"

" _ **Hey Linka ohh… if you don't mind please stop fan ooo… this feels amazing… fangirling. It's really annoying."**_

"Yeah, and so is you not working right." Linka counters.

" _ **Oh, I don't care Linka! Dimensional Designation Detected! THSK-LG-14!"**_

" _Please work."_ Lincoln hopes, as the light flashes once more, forcing her eyes shut.

And a few moments after that, Linka opens her eyes, revealing a room just like her own, save for the off-green paint and the lack of feminine décor.

"Wow, that went better than expected…" Linka quips, "You ok GLaDOS?"

" _ **Ohh, Linka, I'm better than ok! If you need me, I'll be enjoying this amazing feeling!"**_ GLaDOS then triggers an input box that reads, _**"Note: Due to changes, user is present in current dimension. For all intents and purposes, user is present in dimension. To end dimensional viewing, remove goggles."**_

Immediately, the young girl looks down and finds her arms arounded by a light white aura, _"Whoa… so this is what the filament does…"_ Then, she smiles, "I'm home…"

The young girl's heart races as she grabs hold of the doorknob and turns it. And much to her surprise, it opens, revealing a quiet upper floor hallway, _"Weird…"_

She quietly steps in, _"Where is everyone?"_ With a careful curiosity, she peaks into the room next door- that of the twins- only to find them, surprisingly enough, being quiet while having a simple tea party. _"Lana and Lola… having a tea party… while not fighting?!"_

"Hey GLados." She whispers, "Are you sure I'm in dimension C-137?"

" _ **Why… yessss, User Linka Loud!"**_ The A.I. responds.

" _Then why are my sisters being so… quiet?"_ The girl then turns around and peeks into the room behind her. Inside, Lisa sits at her desk, still working on the device she had been for months.

With a soft sigh, the young girl pushes her way inside and greets, "Hey Lisa."

Immediately the younger girl jolts up and turns around, "What the-"

"It's me, Lincoln." She nervously waves.

"Lincoln?" Lisa tiredly tilts her head, "Shouldn't you be at the mall with Leni getting yourself some new pants or something?"

The older girl takes a deep breath, "Ok, Lisa, I have a lot of explaining to do."

"First, who are you, and why are you glowing white?" Lisa asks, putting her hands on her hips as she does so.

" _Of course that's the first question she asks."_ Linka thinks, before answering, "Lisa, it's me, Lincoln."

Lisa shakes her head, "Pish-posh, it's obvious that you're insane. My brother… or sister… we're still not sure, Lincoln just left a few moments ago." Then the scientist touches the girl, "Though, I have to admit, this seems to be extremely advanced."

"That's because it is Lisa!" Linka throws her arms up in desperation, "Remember the experiment a few months ago?"

"Which one?" Lisa yawns, "And make it snappy, I have to get back to work on my dimensional watch neutralizer."

"Remember the original dimensional watch?" Linka asks, and Lisa nods, "Yeah, here it was lost when my brother Lincoln returned."

"Yeah, because your brother didn't return! The person you call your brother is a complete fake!" The girl angrily blurts out.

"That's quite the claim you're trying to make." Lisa nonchalantly answers, "Do you have anyway to prove it? I've seen alternate universes before, and you're not the first to come and tell us that one of us is a fake."

Linka grits her teeth in annoyance.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Ok Wheatley, are you done now?" Luke asks, his voice filling with annoyance. "Because you've been busy calibrating for the past twenty minutes."

" _ **Almost done! Just uhh… working on stuff, yeah that's right! I'm not just trying to figure out how to run these goggles properly or something!"**_ The A.I.'s voice is filled with a frustrated nervousness.

Luke groans, "Hurry up!"

"Hello brother." Lars greets, appearing by his elder brother's side as he does so.

The elder brother immediately jumps to his feet in shock, "G'ahh! Lars!"

"Sorry." He goes, before looking down at the floor, "Levi told me that you were going to be talking to people from other dimensions and I figured out who you were trying to contact…"

"You wanna talk to her too huh?" Luke finishes.

Lars simply nods.

"I'll let you talk to her after, ok?" The musician assures, rubbing his brother's hair as he does so, "I just wanna figure out what's going on before anything else happens, ok?"

"I understand." Lars jumps on Lane's bed, "After what happened with everything, I shouldn't be."

" _ **Ok! I think I've got it ready! Uhh… initiating teleport to alternate universes!"**_ Then his voice becomes more nonchalant, _**"While in use, please don't do anything crazy and uhh… you can't be seen by anyone except the person or thing you wish to speak to… and the crazy, the very young and animals."**_

"Got it Wheatley, now do it!" Luke angrily commands, and the A.I. responds by beginning the transport, causing a burst of light to echo across the young man's face, forcing him to shut his eyes.

Mere moments later, he finds himself standing in the center of Royal Woods Mall. "Where am I Wheatley?"

" _ **Well uhh, according to my calculations, you're in the Royal Woods Mall, in Dimension C-137!"**_

" _Exactly where I wanna be."_ He sighs, before scanning the area for his target, and spots her sitting on one of the hard metal benches they had installed just the year prior. _"Jackpot."_ Then he says aloud, "Thanks Wheatley."

" _ **No problem! I'll uhh, work on a way to go back!"**_ And with that, the A.I.'s voice goes silent.

" _Bout time he shut up."_ Luke takes a deep breath, before stepping forward and approaching the lone girl. "Hey Linka."

Immediately, the young… boy? Jolts to their feet in surprise, "Who said that?!"

"It's me, Luke." The young man responds, causing the child to turn and face him, "Hey…"

Linka stares in response, "What the heck are you doing here?"

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Uhh… what are you doing?" Loki asks, tilting his head as he does so, "I mean, I know you really wanna study women's anatomy every now and then, but I don't think Linka likes it when you try to spy on her and stuff."

Levi immediately jumps back in shock, "Huh, oh, sorry Loki, I was just uhh…"

Loki stares at him, wordlessly ordering him to tell the truth.

He sighs, "I just wanted to check on Linka while she was using the Dimensional Viewing Goggles. Something came up and I'm concerned for her well being." He nervusly rubs the back of his head, "Though, now that I remember, I have to go in a few…"

"What's the issue?" Loki asks, tilting his head as he does so, "If it's really important I'll handle it. You know how much she hates people other than me, Luke, Lars and Lynn walking in her room when she's doing something."

The scientist rubs the back of his head in response, "I'm just worried. If you could just watch her while she used them, that's be amazing."

"Ok then bro." Loki nonchalantly declares, before motioning him to walk back in his room. "Now go to work, you don't wanna be late now."

Levi nods and steps away, while Loki quietly opens the door, steps inside and leans back against it, shutting it tight, before he gazes upon the young, white-haired girl he calls his sister, listening and watching over her... as well as listening to what she says.

* * *

"Lisa, you gotta believe me! I'm really your brother!" Linka desperately shouts, hoping that no one else would hear her pleas.

"I'm sorry, but unless you can prove that you're really my brother, I'm just going to use my homemade EMP to disable whatever device is allowing you to communicate with me.

" _You gotta think fast Lincoln! Lisa's the only sister that could probably help me with this!"_ So with a sigh, she declares, "Four months ago, you sent me to a dimension in which I had ten brothers, just to see what it would be like. You left a twenty-four hour timer on it and told me I had to go home before it hit zero."

Lisa perks up and turns to face the girl.

"Well uhh…" She rubs the back of her head, "I sorta… failed to come home in time. What happened was a version of me got catapulted away from his home dimension and sent me into another portal." Then she sighs, "In order to keep the balance, the universe took the Linka that lived where I am and sent her to you guys."

"What?" Lisa goes, "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"Yes." Linka flatly goes, "How else are you gonna explain the fact that I changed so much after the day I came back?"

"I just assumed the increasing amounts of dimensional anomalies was causing all the issues."

Linka sighs, "The dimensional anomalies are part of the problem, yes, but to make a long story short, I am currently on a mission to fix everything and I need your help."

The scientist simply throws her head back in laughter, "My, my, you really are trying to get me to help you! Even if-"

"Lisa! It's really me!" Linka shouts, causing Lana and Lola to burst from their room and rush into Lisa's. No doubt, the other sisters would've come too if they were home.

Linka wastes no time turning to the twins, "Lola, I spent weeks couching to win tickets to Dairyland, and when you got injured, I did the same to you Lana!" Then he points to Lisa, "And when you decided to be dumb for a day, I convinced you to be yourself again!"

"So?" Lisa goes, "I'm my studies, I've learned that there are an infinite number of universes. You could very well just be talking about things that happened where you came from and using that to predict stuff that happened here."

"Who the heck is this girl, and why does she look like Lincoln?!" Lola speaks up, her voice filling with anger against Linka.

"I'm Lincoln!" She responds.

"Yeah? Well the last time I checked, Lincoln wasn't a girl!" Lana cuts in.

Linka crosses her arms with that, "You mean the last time you checked if she was in a dress or not?"

The three young girls go silent in shock.

"Well, you're in a dress too!" Lola goes, "So what if our brother likes wearing dresses or not?! It's not a bad thing! Just…"

"When was the last time he spent time with you?" She goes, cutting the pageant queen off. "Same with you Lana! When?!"

The twins look at each other for a moment, before Lola pridefully answers, "Lincoln can't stop trying to hang out with me!" She raises her fist, she got so annoying yesterday that I just punched him in the face!"

" _Dangit…"_ Linka thinks.

Lana nervously rubs her arm, "Lincoln hasn't really hung out with me in months… he… she always says I'm too messy and stuff…"

"Does he ever talk about stuff that happened before? Come on you guys! You have to believe me! I'm really your brother!" Linka's voice gets desperate.

"I'm sorry but…" Lisa starts.

"Lisa. Remember when I tested that strange device designed to create a virtual reality to train in?!" The young girl motions to her white hair, "It changed my hair color for a week! When was the last time 'Lincoln' did anything with you?!"

Lisa stands back dumbfounded for a moment, before awkwardly tapping her fingers together, "He hasn't tested anything since, well, she… came back from the Interdimensional jump…" Her eyes go wide in realization.

"Now do you believe me?" Linka flails her arms up.

"What are you guys talking about?" Lana and Lola both tilt their heads.

Lisa sighs, "A few months ago I sent Lincoln to an alternate reality… I hoped he would be coming back before time ran out…"

"But I didn't." Linka finishes, "And now the person who's in my place is currently ruining my life!"

The twins look at Lisa, "You sure this is really Lincoln?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense…" Lisa turns to face the device she had been working on.

"Guys… I know this is sudden, but I need you to keep this a secret. No doubt if the real Linka knew that I were trying to come home, she'd do everything she could to stop me." Linka steps over and hugs Lisa, "I love you guys, and I promise I'll be back soon ok?"

Then, she lets go of the scientist and hugs the twins as well, "Do whatever you can to stop her from ruining my life any more, ok?"

The three children nod in agreement.

And with that, Linka turns the goggles off once more and takes a deep breath.

"Well… I guess that works out…" She calmly places the goggles on her desk, and turns to face the door, "Now I just have to-" As she turns, her eyes fall upon Loki, the young man's eyes filled with a furious and pained fire.

"Uh oh…"

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"What do you mean you don't wanna come home?!" Luke goes, his arms outstretched toward the cross-dressing boy that was his sister.

"I mean what I said Luke." Lincoln responds, "I don't wanna go back. I love it here. Yeah, I hear what you're saying, but by the sound of it, you seem to like her there."

"But-" Luke starts, only for Lincoln to cut him off with, "No buts! I'm comfortable here! I have to thank whoever made the swap! This really is a match made in heaven! My new sisters really understand me and stuff! So what if I get hurt sometimes because my new sisters have bad emotional control?!"

A soft rage begins to build in the young man's chest, "What about all those times we cared for you? When you were sick and needed someone to help you? When you-"

"You mean the times I almost tended up in the hospital because you guys didn't know when to stop treating me like a baby!"

"But, you're ruining this boy's life!" Luke goes, "He wants to go home!"

"By the sound of it, he's been having a blast as me." Lincoln crosses his arms, "And frankly, I don't really care what he wants, what matters now is that I'm in his place and he's in mine. I don't care that Lynn bullies me and stuff!"

Anger begins to fill the young man's body, "You… you're so annoying Linka! We cared for you for all these years and this is how you repay us? By dumping us the first chance you get?! What'll happen when you get bored of those girls you're currently living with huh? Will you just dump them too?!"

"I learned never to get close to people." Lincoln doesn't hesitate to respond, while he turns his body and loosens up his stance, "I learned that if you put all of your trust in someone, they're not gonna be there when you need them the most!"

"What the heck are you talking about?!" if he could touch the child standing in front of him, no doubt he'd be choking him at this point. "The boys were always there when you needed us! We catered to you! We built our lives around making sure you would be safe!"

"Here's my response: get lost Luke! For the first time in years I'm happy! There's no overbearing dad! I get to go wherever I want without having to have one of my overprotective brothers following me! And I don't feel like crap every month!"

"But it's not your life Linka! The real Lincoln wants his body back. He wants to see his sisters again, and his friends and his girl."

"No! This is my life now! These are my sisters! Clyde is mine! He'll just have to settle for you!"

"Settle? Linka… was living with us really that bad?"

"Yes! I'm sick of being treated like I'm made of glass. Being told what I can like and what I can grow up to be! Here they don't expect me to be anything but behaved and happy. My sisters are so caring, and understanding, and know what deodorant is. So what if I mess up and they get angry at me because I don't know them that well!"

Luke sniffs his shirt.

"That guy I replaced is just gonna have to get used to being a girl. Which given how long we've been like this he probably has. His boyishness probably means he gets on better with you guys better than I ever did."

"We only did all that because we love you and don't want anything bad to happen to you!" he fights the rage building in his chest, "You're ruining his life!"

Lincoln looks away, "I can't ruin his life, because it's not his life anymore. It's mine. Now, if you'll excuse me, my sisters are waiting. Goodbye Luke." And with that, the young boy walks away and joins the girl waiting just a few short feet away.

Luke grits his teeth, doing his best to hold down the anger he harbors in his chest as he takes the goggles off and throws them on the bed next to Lars.

Wordlessly, the young man jumps up and lies down on his bunk bed.

"I take it Linka doesn't wanna come home…" Lars goes, his voice filling with a dejected pain.

"She doesn't even care." Luke answers, "She's just going along with everything and calls it a match made in heaven."

Lars fights the sharp pain stinging his chest. "When Linka didn't tell me the truth… I figured that the real her didn't want to come home… but just because I knew doesn't mean it…" He doesn't finish his sentence, choosing instead to just turn and take the goggles for himself.

He hesitates and simply straps them on… only to be greeted by the image of Lincoln, with a beaming smile surrounded by what he assumes to be his ten sisters, who all sport looks of confusion and pain.

Lars too, simply takes them off and throws them aside, before taking a seat on Lane's bed.

The two simply sit on in silence for a moment, neither sure what to do next with the revelation they so desired.

"How about…" Lars goes, his voice filled with a wavering fear, "How about we go talk to Linka, she'll know how to make everything better…"

Luke hesitates for a moment, before sighing, turning in his bed and jumping down, "Ok…"

And with that, the duo steps out of Luke and Lane's shared room and quietly walks over to the converted linen closet their sister called her own.

They carefully open the door, only to reveal Loki standing over Linka- who was now tied up and bound to a chair and sporting a black eye, "Who the heck are you?! Where is my sister! Answer me!"

"Loki!" Luke shouts, grabbing his brother's hand before he could strike the poor girl again, "That's enough! What are you doing to Linka?!"

"This isn't Linka, I just heard her admit it." The former cadet declares, freeing himself from his younger sibling's grip, before turning back to her, "Answer me! Where is she?! Tell me now or so help me I will get the water and towel!"

Luke and Lars simply look on in horror as their usually calm elder brother does not hesitate to harm the girl that he had sworn to protect.

"Well?!" Loki shouts. If someone else were home, no doubt they would be coming along as well.

Linka weakly looks up at the brother, who just a few weeks ago, had helped her win the coveted camping sweet spot and helped her deal with her time of the month. "She's in my place…"

Loki grits his teeth. "Is she trying to come home?! How can I bring her back?! Answer me you… you… you sister stealer!"

The young girl simply stays silent, unsure of how to respond.

"Loki." Luke goes, determination filling his voice.

"What?!" Loki angrily turns to his brother.

Luke shakes his head, "She doesn't wanna come home."

"It's true." Linka painfully goes, "She's taken over my life and hasn't done anything to try and make her way home!"

Loki remains silent for a moment, before continuing in a low voice, "Everything I've done, I've done for her. I put up with years of military school as penance for my mistakes. I've done things to help my sister I wouldn't do for anyone else!" He leans in close to the now injured girl, "And now you're telling me she doesn't even want to come back?! This is cruel! Well if you want cruel 'Lincoln', you know your sister well enough that I can be very, very cruel."

"That's enough bro!" Luke cuts in and grabs his arms, though he knows its of no use, "If you want to talk to Linka, I can set that up for you."

"And what makes you think I can trust you either?! Did you know about this Luke?" A harsh paranoia fills his voice. "And don't lie to me or else I'll turn you into a human pretzel!"

The younger brother nods, "Yeah, I knew." He clutches his fists, "But I accepted this. I'm helping Lincoln get home. Lars, go get the goggles.

Immediately, the Goth disappears, only to reappear with the device in hand.

Wordlessly, Loki takes them and secures them to his head, immediately, Wheatley greets, _**"Wow, it looks like I'm getting passed around more than a random girl a frat party today!"**_

"Can it idiot." Loki coldly goes, before taking a look at his surroundings. He finds himself standing in the living room of home so similar to his own, and yet with an air so different.

Almost immediately, a young boy with long white hair, wearing an orange shirt and blue pants steps down from the stairs.

"Linka?" He goes, tilting his head in confusion.

"Loki? What are you doing here?" he hardens his stance, "I told Luke I don't wanna go home."

"What?" Loki's eyes go wide in shock.

"I said, I don't want to go home." Lincoln repeats, "I told Luke that I'm happy with my new life and I don't want to go home! My new sisters are amazing!"

"What are you talking about?!" Loki's voice fills with confusion, "You're Linka?!"

"Was Linka." She corrects, "I'm Lincoln now."

The young man looks at the child in confusion, "B-but how?! Why?!"

"I somehow swapped places with a boy version of myself." She shrugs, "Now I'm enjoying having ten loving sisters!"

"They aren't your sisters!"

"So what?" Lincoln counters "At least they treat me like their equal. Plus, no incident happened here!"

The former cadet begins to stammer, "But the… the incident! You couldn't even talk to us for weeks!"

Yet, Linka doesn't miss a beat, "Yeah but I grew passed that. None of you did."

"We only wanted to protect you from..."

"From what? Everything? You didn't protect me. You shoved me in a cage and called it 'family'! Girl's my age don't need escorted everywhere. They get to have hobbies! And friends! And a choice in whether they want to play Happy Hannah Homemaker for the rest of their life rather than go out in the big scary world!"

"You were so afraid! You, you..." Loki stammers, holding his arms out, desperate for agreement.

"I grew up. I learned, I realized that I couldn't spend my life trapped in a bubble! But when I tried to get out, you just pushed me back in!" Lincoln's voice fills with anger.

Loki slowly becomes desperate, "I... I wanted to make up for my mistakes, I wanted to show how sorry I was for the incident... I... I..."

Yet, Lincoln immediately counters, "Yeah, you showed how much you were out of touch with me! All you did was show that you saw me as nothing more than a scarred little girl!"

"But, the fun times? The trips we had? the times I helped you..." He stammers

"Name one time we spent together before the boy took over?"

Loki hesitates. "We treated you like a princess."

"Yeah. A princess. Getting locked away in her tower only being able to see freedom out of a tiny window she could never escape through. I'm done here. I'm not coming back to that place Loki. I found my home and I'm staying here. You've got a sister now who doesn't seem to mind being kept prisoner, so spend time with her. Or don't for all I care." Then she turns around, "Now if you need me, I'm gonna go eat a dinner I didn't have to help make."

Loki then watches as the boy steps out of the room, leaving him in shock."

The cadet then rips off the goggles and throws them aside, before dropping on the bed, leaving his three siblings in confusion. He takes a moment to recompose himself, but when he does he angrily shouts, "She… she dumped us!" He then turns and raises his fist once more, yet relents when his eyes fall upon the injured visage of his current sister.

"If you hadn't been ungrateful about your own sisters you wouldn't have ended up here by accident."

"If I hadn't been ungrateful about my sisters, you guys would still be were you were before I arrived. Look me in the eye and tell me you haven't enjoyed the past four months more than you've enjoyed yourselves in years." Linka painfully counters.

"Because of you, my sister's in another universe!" Loki spits out, his anger and pain boiling.

"It's not my fault she likes my sisters!" Linka sighs, "I'll admit I was ungrateful about them. I was just tired of being shut out of decisions, but constantly had them meddle in my affairs. But I learned my lesson… Linka hasn't… yet" He looks at the boy with begging eyes, "If it wasn't me who got displaced, it could have been another me, or Linka, or Lindsay or Liberty, or Nlocnil or any number of infinite Lincolns that were probably dimension hopping at that time who could have ended up swapping bodies with her, or any number of other versions of me. Just be grateful it was me and not a murderous Lincoln or a suicidal one, or one with dark magic powers."

A harsh silence overtakes the four for a moment, with none knowing how to respond to what had been said.

Suddenly, Lars speaks up, "I like Lincoln better than I liked Linka."

Loki turns, giving him a death glare even Lola would have cowered from.

Yet, Lars is undeterred, "Linka never wanted to be my sister. I barely remember what it was like before…but for the first time since I can remember somebody wanted to spend time with me. Be my sister… my friend."

Wordlessly, he moves the hair blocking his eyes out of the way and stares Loki in the eyes. "You can't say you haven't liked how you thought Linka's been for the past half a year."

The harsh realization overtakes the young man, and he clenches his fists, "Fine then… if that's the truth then…" He looks at Linka, his voice filling with a dejected pain, "Then you're Linka now!"

A shocked air fills the room for a moment, until Linka speaks up, "I'm sorry Loki but you as well as I know I don't belong here."

Yet, with desperation filling his voice he shouts, "Then why are you here? We had everything gotten better since you came?!"

If she were not tied up, Linka would probably shrug, "By accident? To save the world? To help you out of the ruts you'd all dug yourself into since the incident?"

"Maybe the universe is indirectly telling us that you belong here!" Loki responds, grabbing her shoulders as he does so.

Luke places a soft hand on his shoulder, "Loki, you need to clam down."

"Lars is right! Everything has been better since you got here! It's cause of you we met our grandparents and dad made up with grandpa! Everything good that's happened to us recently is cause of you!" Loki desperately continues

Linka's eyes start to mist over.

"What about Ron Andy huh? I saw how you were leaning into him during the dance! I doubt you were ever that close with your Ron Andy! Admit it! You like us better than your sisters! Why else would you leave in the first place?!"

Luke answers with a calm voice, "She already explained it. She came because of her curiosity, and after spending sometime arsehole versions of ourselves, she learned her lesson. She can't stay here Loki. She has to save the multiverse."

"I know... But she's coming back and living here when it's all over, right?"

For a moment, the young girl hesitates, unsure of how to answer. Yet, with a deep breath, she speaks, "I know she hurt you. But you know where that hurt comes from. And now you know how to make things right when she comes back."

Loki grits his teeth, before standing up, grabbing the holo-gear and cards off the desk and walking out of the room without another word.

"You ok Linka?" Luke asks, "Besides the shiner of course…"

Linka nods, "Yeah… just untie me. I have to talk to Linka."

Luke complies, and within moments, Linka has her dimensional goggles on. It takes her a few moments to power them on. Yet, when they're ready, she finds herself standing in front of her dimensional counterpart, in the room she had once called her own.

"Hey Linka." The girl greets.

"Great, this time you're here." Lincoln groans.

"Yeah…" The girl rubs the back of her head, "Look, Linka, we have to swap back."

"And why's that?" Lincoln sits back.

"Because…" Linka starts, only for Lincoln to cut her off.

"Because what?" Lincoln goes, "Because you just want to blindly come back? You've had four months to do so! Why haven't you done anything to fix things?! Luke told me everything that had happened while you were there, so don't lie!"

Linka grits her teeth, "Because things were getting in the way!"

"Name one good reason." Lincoln goes.

"There are lots of problems that come with being me!" Linka counters, yet Lincoln simply laughs in response.

"I've been you for four months sweetie. I've lived everything you have. I've moved past them. And from what I've heard, you've moved past mine." Lincoln's voice fills with hope, "Maybe this wasn't a mistake. Maybe the way it was, was the anomaly and we were finally fixed. We were meant to be this way!"

"But come on, could you at least tell me why you don't wanna come back?" Linka asks, her arms going out as she does so. "My sisters miss me being the way I am!"

"You and I both know the truth. You like it there don't you? You haven't rushed home yet because you enjoy being there." Her voice fills with a smug strength, "Tell me, if the multiverse wasn't in danger, would you even want to go home?"

Linka remains quiet.

"You've bled. You've worn nothing but dresses for months. You've bonded with Mom. Got Dad to smile again. You've got those idiots wrapped around your widdle biddy finger. You've probably been dating Ron Andy longer than you ever did Ronnie Anne. You cry when someone insults your outfit. Do you even remember what it's like to have a guy's thing? Do you remember what it's like to be a guy?"

Linka remains silent.

Yet, Lincoln continues, "If we switch back now nothing will change. You won't be 'Lincoln Loud' anymore. You'll still be Linka."

Linka then speaks up, "And what have you done? You've made mom cry, my sisters worry for you more than they ever did, and you seem to be a bit antsier! You even hesitate to wear dresses and yet still chose to date Clyde!"

Lincoln doesn't answer.

"Really, if we switched back all it would do is make me have to fix everything! What the heck is wrong with you? If we swapped back, you'd be as much yourself as you were when you left!" Linka stares Lincoln in the eyes, "If I could have my cake and eat it too, I'd want both my brothers and sisters. The brothers you pushed away. They're amazing. I've had a blast with all of them. Even Lane when you get past the dirty jokes..."

"Oh yeah those are the worst." Lincoln quips.

Linka continues, "I spent time with them. I got to know them. I love them all in different ways. I don't have ten sisters. I have twenty siblings!" Her voice becomes cold, "And one big, ungrateful baby."

"Did you even give your brothers a chance? Did you even bother taking risks with them? They noticed everything and opened up to me!" She stares at him. "Did you even give your brothers a chance to change? Or were you too busy with your victim complex to realize how much they really cared for you."

Lincoln doesn't counter.

"Well?!"

No response.

Linka continues, "You know what, I don't care anymore. I don't care if you want to switch back or not, I don't care if you're going to go out of your way and try to hinder me. I will set right what went wrong, and you cannot stop me."

"And when everything's 'fixed'. And you take Ronnie Anne in your arms and give her a kiss. What will you do when you realise it feels like kissing a dead fish? What will be the look on your face when you close your eyes to try and enjoy the moment, but you fantisize that it's Ron holding 'you'."

"Things will go back to normal?"

"Will They? What I liked didn't change. Who's to say you won't still like boys if we switch back?" Lincoln goes.

"So?! I'll I'll-"

"So you'll what? Break three hearts at the same time? Say buh-bye to a boy who told you he loves you? Break your best friend's heart when you tell him you were just 'in an experimental phase'? Cuckle the girl you want to go back to liking you because it turns out that you liked being the chick in the relationship better when she was the one with the 'parts'?"

Linka hesitates, before clenching her fists and countering, "But you've started to change too! I've been watching you ever since I could! You grew out of wearing dresses, the only thing that's remained the same is that you have an attraction for Clyde! Who's to say things won't be fixed either!"

"Yeah? So? Are you even willing to take that risk, just to see **my** sisters again? Your brothers have accepted you more than they ever accepted me!"

Silence overtakes them once more.

With tears filling her eyes Linka forces forward, "If I've learned anything in these passed months, it's that the mind is the plaything of the body, I don't care about the risks. "

Lincoln counters, "What about Clyde and Ron! For the first time we've given them something other than heartbreak! Do you really want to take that from them?!"

Linka remains silent.

"I mean sure you'll have Ronnie Anne back, maybe, if she ever believes you. I on the other hand have no plans to hook up with Ron. And I'm as attracted to Claudia as you are to Clyde. If you wanna swap McBrides around so I can still have Clyde when I'm a girl again then I won't object. But otherwise you'll be breaking two hearts for a 'chance' at the third. Then of course you'll be dropping me off in a life were your brothers by now know that their sister wanted nothing to do with them. Is fighting you to keep herself out of 'your' life. Meanwhile the cool big sis they all grew to love disappears and they never see 'her' again."

He stares at her and smirks, "I have changed, I got your logic. I have to admit it comes in handy."

Linka continues, "And what happens when my sisters find out about what you've done? They'll do everything they can to make things right!"

"Me? I haven't done anything? If anything they'll see that it's better this way for both of us. We both look so much happier in our 'proper' lives than we were in ours. Or are you implying that my sisters are really so cruel that they'd send me back to a nightmare that I hate? And selfish enough to tear you away from a better life than you ever had with them?

Linka glares in annoyance.

"Haha! You really are becoming more like me!" Lincoln chuckles.

Linka mutters, "You don't deserve them."

"What's that?"

Linka looks at her in defiance, "You don't deserve sisters that love and cherish you and brothers that cared for you. You're nothing more than a selfish, whiny brat. I tried to sympathize with you, to give you a chance. But after everything that's happened, after I heard what you went through, that stupid incident that caused all this, I can't. What'll you do when you have a chance to change again huh? Would you take it?! You are right about one thing though. I do fit a life as Linka better than you did."

Then she points at him, "But I also know I'd fit a life as Lincoln better than you!"

She holds her fist over her heart, "My life as Lincoln helped me connect to my brothers better than you ever wanted to, and my life as Linka made me appreciate my sisters better than you'll ever care to. I can hang out and help my brothers with girls, and I can be here for them better than any other guy when Lucy or Lola or Lana get scared when they grow up and don't know what's wrong with them. My siblings all said it best when I was fighting Trevor."

Her voice fills with determination, "I'm their sister and their brother. I'm Lincoln and Linka Loud!" His voice goes low, "So who the hell are you?"

"I…" Lincoln starts, only for Linka to cut him off, "I know I'm not in my own home, but that doesn't mean I'll let that control me. I'm no anomaly, but maybe you are."

Lincoln puts on a sinister grin, "You really think that huh? I was trapped in the prison my family made for me! If I wanted to go anywhere they wanted me to have a chaperone!

"What are you talking about? They are fine with me going out!"

"So what? You still have to have your brothers following you around!" Lincoln counters, his voice getting more desperate.

"Yeah. And I'm fine with it. It gives me a chance get to know each of them." Linka shrugs, before looking him in the eyes, "Besides. I know it won't last forever. Everyone grows up. They know they can't protect me forever, and there all starting to move on with their own lives. Dad thinks that his 'little' girl is stating to get over 'that'."

A dumbfounded expression overtakes the boy's face, "That's… that's not fair! I was over it years ago! Why... why didn't they move on when I was with them?!"

"Because you didn't want to help or spend time with them more than you had to. If you actually took five minutes to talk to them and treat your family like friends instead of like annoyances then maybe you'd have been 'free' years ago." He chuckles, "Heck, the first thing I did was take a paper route! Dad looked at me funny, but didn't argue!"

Lincoln's mouth opens in shock.

"You didn't even try!" Linka points at the boy, "Stop playing the victim! Stop expecting the world to accommodate you like our brothers! This was not the universe going out of its way to help you! So for once in your life take some initiative!"

"Ok then." Lincoln responds, his voice filling with anger, "I'll start by getting rid of you. Can't send me back if there's nothing to go back to right? Lets see how much freedom they let you have when I send you back there looking like it's the incident version two. I bet there's a human sized habitat in the basement your dad's just been waiting for an excuse you stick you into, with your name on it."

"I'll never give-" Linka starts, only for Lincoln fist to hit her face. "Did you forget, I've been you for the past few months! You've been me! You may still have your mind but you're more girly than you have ever been before!"

"I won't give up though! Loki told me about the incident, he told me the truth! What happened was bad, but that doesn't mean you can just abandon your family!" Linka desperately goes, a fist going into her gut.

"They are **not** my family!"

"Well my sisters aren't yours! It's just you like always expecting everyone to adapt to you, but ever the other way around. Your just a Mmpphh."

Lincoln punches again, while repeating, "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"Heh, you know that saying shut up means you don't have anything more to say. I win." Linka quips between the blows.

"Yeah. Congrats. Your prize is another black eye." Lincoln then grabs the girl and lifts her up. _"My body has muscles now?!"_

"I have to thank Pop pop at least. His 'man training' made me realize I like being strong and girly! I pump a little iron and I get these guns! I even had Lisa check our growth rates. Did you know by the time you were done growing you were gonna be the tallest one in the house?" She smiles, "Though I love wearing dresses and shopping on the side still."

" _Ok, someone's going through the big one three."_ Linka thinks.

"I don't need to win this argument. I just have to send you home with another shiner." he grits his teeth, "I am not going back and you can't make me. Have a nice life 'Linka'!"

And with that, he punches her so hard that the goggles get knocked off, leaving her with the injuries he had inflicted.

"Ugh." Linka groans, causing Lars and Luke to help her onto her bed while they shout, "What happened?!"

Linka simply responds, "Your sister told me she doesn't want to come back."

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Loki shoves the metal cards into the holo-gear, "I need answers now. Unsealing carded hunters now."

And with that, three orbs escape the metal cards and form in front of the young man.

"Congrats, I freed you, now talk."

1-19 20-8-5 19-21-14-19-5-20 4-5-19-3-5-14-4-19, 20-8-5 4-1-18-11-14-5-19-19 6-1-12-12-19. 15-4-25-19-19-5-21-19' 10-15-21-18-14-5-25 8-1-19 2-5-3-15-13-5 13-15-18-5 20-18-5-1-3-8-5-18-15-21-19.

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! As always, try to guess what story comes next (I made it obvious what's happening next though XD). I thank Wolvenstrom and Exotos135 for their help in making this!**

 **Also, I'm a bit worried about the transitions between scenes, what do you guys think?**


	21. A Hunter's Quarrel

**A/N Hey guys! Welcome to chapter 21! Wow… I never expected to get this far… Awesome! I've got plenty of trivia in the second Author's note for those interested! I thank everyone who's supported me so far! And I thank Exotos135 for the nice art he made for the previous chapter!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Some information on the hunters, and fallout from the previous chapter. (Planned)**_

Story Twenty-One: A Hunter's Quarrel

"Come out, come out wherever you are." A strong, masculine figure jumps down from a pseudo cliff created by a destroyed building, "You've been running for a long time Nell! I'm gonna catch up to you eventually!"

A few yards ahead of them, a young, blonde-haired woman, clad in the anomaly hunter's blue uniform and accompanying cloak, rushes through the ruins of dimension EX-196, hoping that maze-like setup her home dimension would be enough to stall the hunter chasing her.

"You are aware that the Anomaly Elimination Task Force hates when one member fails!" The figure goes, before jumping up and running after her, "Though, I have to admit, you're making this hunting game fun!"

Nell ducts under a mound of rubble and jumps over a pile of burnt trash. "You'll never get me!" She then turns and bolts down yet another alleyway, but to no avail- her pursuer easily turns the corner and keeps up the chase.

" _Come on!"_ The young woman desperately thinks, before turning down another corridor… only to be met by a wall of leftover rubble. The young woman's heart races in fear. She is caged; though less like a rat and more like an ant in a tiny metal box.

"No where left to run Nell." The hunter pulls out his Holo-Gear and secures it to his arm, "I suggest you come quietly. After all, no wants to be carded tired."

"No thanks." Nell grits her teeth and hardens her gaze, "But I'd rather not." She then pulls out her own Holo-Gear and secures it as well.

The hunter gives a devious smile in response, "Well then Nell, you know the deal." They then pull of their hood revealing her medium-length blonde hair and her telltale bucktooth. Her skin is fair, almost baby-like. She wears a white cloak with golden highlights, "Under the authority of the Anomaly Control and Elimination Task Force, I challenge you."

Nell removes her hood, letting her long, blonde hair flow out, "Ok then." She steels her gaze.

 _ **Generating Hunting Field: Sogen**_

Immediately, the two Holo-Projectors emit waves of pure light, transforming the destroyed cityscape into a lush prairie. The once dried-up river flows with hardlight water, while the bombed out buildings and barriers now appear at rolling plains. No doubt, this is a fitting place for a climactic battle.

"Well Nell Uold of Dimension EX-196, any last words?" The hunter asks, as a hardlight shield appears over the holo-gear and a hardlight sword appears in her free hand.

"Class three or not, I am not gonna let you turn me into a card!" Nell's device projects the same, "En Guarde!" She shouts, before jumping at the class three hunter. Said hunter simply smiles, before raising her shield and blocking the attack with ease.

"There's a reason I'm class three Nell!" She goes, before forcing the young woman back and jumping at her as well, "I am fully prepared to turn you into a card, even if you resemble my second-youngest sister."

Leni holds up her shield as well and attempts to block… only for the hunter to quickly sideswipe her, knocking her Holo-Gear shield offline.

"This is too easy." She quips, before stepping towards Nell, "Goodbye Nell."

" _I gotta think fast!"_ Nell thinks, before hitting the red button on her device. _"I was told that using this was a horrible idea cause it can tear a hole in the fabric of space-time... Well if I don't wanna end up in a card, I have no choice!"_

Immediately, the Holo-Gear displays the message, _**"Emergency Teleport Activated! Dimensional Designation Of Destination?"**_

With the Class three hunter mere feet away from her, Nell weakly shouts, "Dimension sixty-three I, apostrophe backslash!"

And with that, the young woman's body glows with soft, white light before vanishing, leaving the hunter behind. "So, she wishes to continue the hunting games huh?" She begins to tap away at her device… only to receive a call from command.

"Lyle Loud, what's the problem command?" She asks.

" _ **Command requests status update. What's the status of the disavowed hunter?"**_ The man on the other end responds.

"Still runnin'," She chuckles, "She's gone off to a Dimension sixty-three I, apostrophe backslash. Continuing pursuit in-"

" _ **Lyle, stand down."**_ The man's voice is filled with a genuine concern, _**"That dimension is currently off-limits to class one hunters and is filled with anomalies. You are too valuable as it stands, to risk a trip there."**_

"I see." Lyle the shrugs, "Understood command, preparing to return to base. Dimensional jump in T-Minus ten minutes, will continue to survey ruins for survivors."

" _ **Good luck."**_ And with that, the same light-white light overtakes the hunter, causing her body to disappear.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

A fierce expression overtakes the young man's face, as he holds his rifle at the newly freed hunters, "Talk now or I will blow your brains out!"

The hunters stand across from him, unfazed, no doubt they had been in this situation before.

"Answer me! Who the heck are you?!" He clicks the weapon's safety off, pulls the bolt back and loads up, "I am not afraid to shoot you idiots!"

Alex and Aeif look at each other and nod… Only for the older man to step forward. "I am class one hunter Trevor Mcfield of dimension CX-135. Current-"

"Shut up!" Loki's voice becomes more desperate, "That's all I wanted to hear," then he turns to the twins. "Now you two, who are you?"

Aeif then steps forward, "Now Aoki, we need you to calm-"

"I'm perfectly calm." The young man responds, "I want answers, and I am perfectly fine with shooting you to get it. I don't care if you resemble my brothers."

The girl looks at her twin's counterpart and sighs, "Fine, I'll talk. Just put the weapon down."

Loki responds by aiming it at the little girl, "No, now talk or I will fire!"

"Is that thing even loaded?" Alex asks, gritting his teeth as he does so.

"Yes." Loki then turns and jams the barrel into a nearby pillow and fires, sending a cloud of feathers flying out. Then, without missing a beat, he pulls the bolt out, ejecting the used cartridge and loading a new one, "This is the rifle I earned from the academy when I graduated, any other information is irrelevant, all you need to know is that I have it and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Alex then fights the building fear in his chest and answers with a weakly determined voice, "I am Alex Aoud of dimension RX-64."

Then Aeif speaks up, "And I am Aeif Luod of dimension TX-121."

Loki doesn't weaken his stance, "Good, now where are you from, and why the heck are you here? I don't care if you have to tell me your life's story, I want to know why everything is going on, got that?!"

Trevor looks the former class two hunters at his sides and sighs, "I come from a reality in which war-"

"Was I talking to you?!" Loki growls, immediately aiming his rifle at Trevor. "No, I freaking wasn't, I was talking with the twins, so shut up and stay in your Lane!"

A few miles away, Lane jolts, and wonders, "Did someone just call me?"

Loki aims the rifle at the male twin, "Now you, tell me what's different about where you came from!"

Alex takes a step back in fear, "We-well… I come from a reality in which my mom, dad, sister and two of my brothers died after a home invasion… you-your counterpart raised me and…"

"Let's just say, he did some bad things to him." The girl speaks up, her voice filled with an understanding strength.

Loki doesn't hesitate to train the rifle on her, "And how about you little missy?! Where did you come from?!"

"Where I come from, my genius older brother and sister Aoni and Aeni accidently created a device that caused an anomaly surge, said surge made my dimension too unstable to live in, and happened too quickly for the AEU to handle it. I was the only survivor.

"Good. Now why the heck are you after me and my siblings?"

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Linka groans in pain for a moment, before leaning back against the wall. Her elder 'brother' Luke sits at her left, while Lars sits on her right.

"You're gonna be all right Link…" Luke rubs the young girl's back, "just… you're gonna have to take it easy for a bit… after all, with two shiners like that…"

"Don't mention it Luke." Linka groans, "I've now gotta worry about Linka going out of her way not to come home, I don't think I need anything else to worry about."

Lars then pulls out his notebook and begins to write; no doubt the revelation that his sister had abandoned him was more than enough for inspiration, "Well…" His voice is filled with a soft, meekness, "we still have to figure out a way to explain your injuries to the guys…"

"Dangit…" both Linka and Luke mutter, while the older boy continues, "How the heck are we gonna do that?!" He leans back, against the same wall, while holding his head, "Dangit, why did they have to give you two black eyes?! If they were just bruises, we'd be able to simply hide them, but nope!"

After that, Luke's annoyed yelling devolves into incoherent ramblings.

A few moments of silence pass, with nothing, but the sound of Lars trying to write his latest story and Luke mumbling about their currently unfavorable situation filling the air.

Linka leans back against the wall as well simply thinking in an attempt to clear her mind, _"Dangit! Why is any of this happening?!"_ She sighs, _"I started out of curiosity and now I'm trying to save the multiverse from falling apart!"_ She takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, _"And now the person who I replaced now wants me out of the way so she can steal my life!"_ She painfully opens her eyes, " _I hope Lisa finds a way to hold Linka down until then… I need as much time as I can get if I am to finish this stupid Macguffin in time…"_

With one more sigh, Linka speaks up, "So uhh… Dad doesn't have an actual human sized habitat in the basement, does he?" Linka nervously asks.

"Huh?" Luke turns to her in confusion.

"Linka mentioned that dad probably had a small habitat set up in the basement in case something went wrong with me… is that true Luke?"

"Of course not!" The young man awkwardly rubs the back of his head, though Linka simply stares at him. He sighs and continues, "Well… he might have mentioned, once or twice, about Linka well… being home schooled and never being allowed to leave the house again… ever." He rubs his current sister's back, hoping to keep her calm.

Linka remains quiet.

He immediately turns to her and puts up his arms in surrender, "But that was ages ago. And both Loki and mom shot it down pretty quickly so don't worry. We'll just…" He sighs, "We'll just have to think of a reason for why you look beat up."

"You thinking about staging an accident?" Linka tilts her head towards him.

"Read my mind sis. Read my mind." He leans back, trying to calm himself down just enough to think of solution.

"Well how about the door knob excuse?" Linka suggestions, her voice filled with a desperate exhaustion.

Luke immediately responds, "Do you like having door knobs?"

"Tripped and fell down the stairs?"

Lars closes his notebook and responds, "The basement gets cold in the winter." The boy rubs his chin, "How about she got punched by that girl who hates her?"

"Dad would be pounding on her door within the hour." Luke shakes his head. "Plus, once they figure out the lie, we'll have even more to worry about than just the two black eyes.

Linka continues, "Kitchen accident?"

"Not even we could live on nothing but take out." Lars flatly goes, "And I personally don't like Uncle Rudy's cookin'."

She rubs her chin, "I climbed a tree and fell?"

Luke shakes his head again, "I don't know about you, but I like having trees nearby. It makes the street interesting."

The girl sighs and turns to her little brother, "How would you write this scene Lars?"

Lars shrugs, "I'd have my character try to hide the injuries with make-up or magic or something along those lines."

Linka sighs, "I don't wear that much make up. Even if dad doesn't notice, mom definitely will." She throws her arms up in annoyance, "And you know how she'll react when she finds out I've got two black eyes! Ron Andy is definitely gonna be the first casualty."

"Ugh." Luke groans, pinching the bright of his nose as he does so. "No matter what we think of, we'll have to explain the truth! Say a doorknob hit you? We lose our already broken doorknobs! Say the remote smacked you in the face? We lose TV! One of us hit you by accident? They get shipped off!" He flails his arms back, "Heck! Even tripping over one of the pets might get them put up for adoption or put down!" He sighs, "There has got to be something around here that we can pin it on that dad wouldn't get rid off or we could live without!"

Linka rubs her chin, "How about the trophy case fell on me?"

Lars and Luke turn to her in surprise, "What?"

"It's an old case with more trophies inside than most families ever get, it's not to hard to imagine it giving up and falling over. I hardly think dads will blame you for being winners."

Luke rubs his chin, "That can work... plus, it could be an excuse to replace the old thing…"

The girl smiles, "Great…" She hesitates and sighs, "Now the only thing we-"

Lars cuts her off, "No, you're not talking to Loki."

"If this is about the black eye..."

Luke cuts in, "No duh it's about the black eye!" He motions towards her with both arms, "Linka, he was threatening to waterboard you. Waterboard, you!"

Linka rubs the back of her head, "Yeah… but I understand why! He was just scared and angry that something had happened to his sister."

"Yeah. And now he's scared and angry that the person our lives have revolved around for all these years hates us, and the one who's replaced her wants to abandon us." Luke finishes.

"Luke, I don't want to abandon anyone…" Linka goes, "I love you guys.

Luke nods, "I know that, but it still hurts. Loki probably knows it to, but it probably hurts him even more because of everything that has happened." He places a reassuring arm on her shoulder, "Look, someone does need to talk to Loki, but it can't be you. I'll talk to him ok? You need to let Loki come to you."

Linka sighs, "Ok then… fine." She then stands up, "I guess, Lars and I will go work on the trophy case… though it's still hard to see with my eyes… well…"

Lars grabs hold of her hand, "I'll be your guide Linka."

The girl nods, "Good luck Luke."

And with that, the two step out of the room, leaving Luke alone.

"Dangit… why does everything have to be so difficult?"

* * *

Just a few dimensions away Lisa rests in her seat, the newly completed dimensional watch, version 2.0 resting snug in her hand.

" _Dangit…"_ She whispers, _"I find it difficult to believe that Lincoln's not Lincoln… but that would explain my male sibling's erratic behavior in the past few months…"_ She hops to her feet and yawns, _"When was the last time I suspended consciousness?"_

The young scientist shakes her head and walks over to her coffee maker, "No matter… I can't waste anymore time." With a soft, yet deliberate turn, she pulls out a poured cup of black liquid, "Caffeine isn't addictive my Gluteus Maximus." And without another word, she downs the liquid… only to spit it out in disgust, "My mistake, I forgot to add the sugar and milk…"

"Knock, knock." Lincoln greets, causing the four-year-old to turn to him.

 _"The impostor… it can't be true, can it?"_ She quickly thinks, before responding, "Hello Lincoln. What brings you to my room?"

He smiles, "I was just wondering if you could build me another device capable of travelling between dimensions."

" _Why though? Why now? After the supposed counterpart of my sibling appeared?"_ Lisa simply shakes her head, "I apologize elder sibling. I'm afraid I am currently unable to do so."

Lincoln stares at her in annoyance, "Care to tell me why sis?"

Lisa wordlessly steps over to her computer and boots up. Within moments, an overly complicated diagram of the multiverse appears on the screen, "This is a simple simulation of the multiverse."

"Yeah?" Lincoln steps to her side.

"You see, I have attempted to create a replacement for the watch you lost, but due to the high volume of anomalies present I am currently unable to complete it without endangering the stability of our universe." Suddenly, things start to clear up, _"Wait… an anomaly is caused when something that does not belong enters an alternate reality… the anomalies started appearing after Lincoln returned from his trip to an alternate universe… meaning that shouldn't have been any anomalies present…"_

"I see…" The boy goes, "Is there anything you can do to fix the issue? I mean, there has to be something you can do to fix the issue!"

" _Why does he suddenly want the Interdimensional Matter Transporter finished?"_ Lisa's heart races as her mind rushes to find the words to answer him.

"You ok Lisa?" He tilts his head in confusion, "You seem really antsy all of a sudden."

The scientist girl shakes her head, "It's nothing, I just had a cup of coffee and the effects of caffeine are staring to take hold." She motions towards the empty coffee mug next to her.

Lincoln shrugs, "Well… if you need any help, feel free to ask me." He places a soft hand on her shoulder. "I wanna be able to visit alternate universes too, cause it sounds like fun!"

" _Fun… no… it can't be…"_ Lisa thinks, before she speaks up once more, "Hey Lincoln… I would like to ask you something, if you do not mind of course."

The boy shrugs, "Sure sis, what's the question?"

"A while ago I asked you to test my glow serum, do you remember how it felt?" Lisa turns back to face her computer and begins to typing, "I believe I could be able to modify the formula to make interdimensional travel safer."

"Hmm, well, if I remember correctly it made me feel a bit queasy. Like, umm, someone shoved some vinegar down my throat."

"Thank you Lincoln. I will get to work on the formula right now."

And with that, the boy nods and walks out of the room.

Lisa sighs, _"It's true… he isn't my brother…"_ The pieces begin to fall into place in her mind, _"The erratic, pseudo-feminine behavioral changes can now be explained as Lincoln is not in there, but is rather the girl Lincoln swapped places with."_ She adjusts her glass and walks over to her work desk.

" _I cannot allow her to get her hands on my completed Interdimensional Matter Transporter, or else who knows what she will do?"_ Lisa sighs with that thought, before walking over to the door. The upstairs hallway is dark for the night, with most of the siblings in their rooms, preparing to go to sleep. She quickly checks her surrounding before crossing the hallway and knocking on the door across from her own.

"Hey Lana, Lola, you still awake?" She whispers… only for the door to immediately fly open and four hands to pull her inside. "G'ahh!"

"Be quiet woman!" Lola goes, placing her hand on her little sister's mouth, "Do you want that imposter to hear you?"

Lisa moves Lola's hand, "No."

"Well then be quiet." Lana adds.

"I know elder siblings." The scientist stands up and dusts herself off. "We have to begin preparations to fix our sibling's current situation."

"Besides the fact that he's in another dimension and the person in his place is currently screwing his life over?" Lola mutters, doing her best not to make her rage audible."

The scientist nods, "Yes." She pulls out the newly finished watch, "I have completed the Interdimensional Matter transporter required to travel between dimensions, but I am worried more must be done before I can test it."

"So what do you want us to do Lisa?" Lana asks, taking the device in her hands.

"I fear that our current male sibling is planning something drastic in order to keep the status quo." Lisa adjusts her glasses, "Please, I need you to hide this device. We cannot allow them to get their hands on this. If they do, there is no telling what could happen!"

The twins nod in affirmation.

"Thank you." Lisa goes, before turning, "And please, watch over them, make sure they don't do anything drastic."

For one of the very few times in their lives, the twins nod in agreement.

And with that, Lisa turns… only for Lana to grab her arm, "Why can't we tell Lori or the others? They deserve to know that Lincoln's not really Lincoln too!"

Lisa sighs, "I agree, but if our current sibling's previous behavior is any indication, they want to stay." She adjusts her glass once more and looks Lana in the eyes. Unlike her typical monotone… Lisa's voice fills with a soft, almost mother-like heat, "I fear that if word gets out, they'll do something drastic to get their way."

She then breaks from Lana's grip and steps out of the room, hoping that there was still time to spare.

* * *

" _Ok, here we go."_ Luke takes a deep breath, mentally preparing himself as he stands before the room of his eldest brothers, _"No matter what he does, he's still our brother. The only reason he's acting the way he is is because he feels neglected and he'll calm down after we explain everything to him."_ With one more sigh, he calmly opens the door… only to find Loki still standing in front of the released hunters, holding them at rifle point.

"Uhh… what's going on here?" Luke nervously asks, causing the three hunters to turn to face him, while Loki doesn't move.

"Glad you could join us Luke." Loki angrily greets, his gaze, suspicious of the three standing before him, "How's the sister imposter doing?"

Luke simply nods, "She's fine bro, she's fine…"

The cadet remains silent, simply waiting for his brother to continue.

"So uhh… What's happened?" Luke nervously asks.

Loki doesn't hesitate to respond, "I just had these idiots spill who they are and where they come from, now I wanna know why they're here."

"Well…" Aeif turns to her twin's counterpart, silently begging for him to answer, yet, her partner stands behind Trevor, a semi-fearful expression filling his face, "Fine, we'll tell you." She sighs, "We're Anomaly Hunters."

"Try something I don't know." Loki angrily, training the rifle on the child soldier.

Without missing a beat, Aeif responds, "That bar of slippery white stuff on the sink is called soap. Wet it and rub it against your skin until lather forms to prevent B.O."

Luke can't help but chuckle at the insult.

"Something that, oh I don't know, will convince me not to shoot your brains out." Loki nonchalantly responds, "They taught me how to quickly hide bodies so enemy personnel wouldn't get alerted to my actions."

"Yeah right." Trevor goes, "You're seriously going to shoot kids?"

Loki easily responds, "I don't see how me doing that is any less humane than you trapping us in cards forever. Now, talk."

"Loki…" Luke slowly stepping towards his brother, "I think you need to-"

" **No**!" He shouts, "I don't need to calm down! I need answers and he's gonna give me them!"

Alex fights passed his fears and steps forward, "We were recruited after too many anomalies appearing in our universe caused it to become inhabitable."

"Continue." Loki goes, he fierce gaze hardening.

Alex nods, "Yeah. Now it's our job to capture anomalies and keep their levels as low as possible so other realities don't end up like ours."

Aeif then speaks up, "The reason we're here is because your sister is an anomaly, a big one borderlining class three." She then points at him, "And so are you! We were just doing our job getting rid of a couple of dweebs like you to save everyone else. You're welcome by the way."

"Seeing as I'd be a card right now if you succeeded, I don't feel like thanking you." Loki responds. "In fact, after hearing that, perhaps shooting you and putting you out of your misery would be a far better option than letting you go-"

"Oh screw this!" Trevor shouts, before rushing Loki, "Your sister defeating me cost me my honor! I will do anything to get it back!"

Before the cadet could counter, the older man pushes the weapon down, causing the weapon to discharge. The bullet flies through the floor with that, just barely missing the kids downstairs.

Yet, Loki is more than capable of breaking the man's grip and forcing his fist into the former hunter's face, causing him to fall to the floor, "And stay down you filthy animal."

 _ **Downstairs…**_

Lars holds his injured arm, "Dangit, Loki!"

"Are you ok Lars?" Linka grabs onto her brother tightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got grazed." The Goth boy responds, "I'm ok… though if I were just an few inches over…"

"Don't focus on that Lars." Linka grips him tightly, "You're not too seriously hurt right? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you were!"

"I'll be fine." He goes, "I was raised to deal with the pain." The Goth then stands up and takes a seat on the couch, still clutching the cut.

Despite her weakened vision, Linka still stands as well and runs over to the kitchen, knowing full well where her parents kept the most important tool box in the house: the first-aid kit.

 _ **Back upstairs…**_

Trevor grits his teeth, "Your sister cost me my honor."

Loki quickly smacks Trevor's head with the butt of his rifle… then hits him again... and again... and again, "I don't know why, but this feels so satisfying!" Then, just to finish it, he smacks him across the face hard enough to knock out one of the man's teeth... as well as damage the rifle butt.

"Grr. Do your worst!" Trevor defiantly yells between the hits, "I come from a reality in which honor is the most prized aspect one could have. When I joined, I was promised I would be able to keep it!"

"Seriously?" Loki immediately pulls out his rifle's bolt, ejecting the spent cartridge and loading in another, "What honor? You set up your 'games' without warning." He aims at the hunter's head, "And the those two had an unfair advantage by being armed and catching us by surprise. Never mind what you probably did to get one up on my… sister. You guys never had any honor to lose!"

"It doesn't matter. We're dead anyway." Trevor answers, his voice getting low while he defiantly looks down the barrel of his weapon.

"Yeah, because I wanted answers, and you decided to try and attack me." He aims the rifle…

Only for a burst of purple light to engulf Trevor's body.

Loki turns to face the source.

Luke holds up a metal card, "While you weren't paying attention, I used the Holo-Gear to card his arse." Then, he drops his arms, "You need to calm down Loki. You almost shot a man!"

"I don't care!" He spits back, "I want to know how to fix everything! I want answers!" he points at the remain two hunters, "Like, why are you as good as dead now?!"

The male twin speaks up, "If you lose in the hunting field, you end up an anomaly yourself. It's either card yourself, or wait to be carded..."

"Or know that your very existence will contribute to reality collapsing around you." Aeif finishes.

Luke then speaks up, "Well… you guys still have your equipment right?"

The former hunters shake their heads; "We lost them when we got carded."

"Well… if I got you your stuff back, what's stopping you from doing your job in this universe?

"One, we're at gunpoint" Alex goes, and Aeif adds, "And two,

it's not our job anymore."

Luke's voice fills with annoyance, "So, what? You're just going to let us re-seal you, or go out and wait to get captured again? Send a signal; get a bunch of you guys swarming over us trying to get some 'honor' back?"

The hunters remain silent.

"Well…" Loki's voice begins to soften, "That's the awkward silence of understanding if I've ever heard it. What do you think?"

"Oh no doubt." Luke quips, "Totally gonna to get themselves and all of us carded as payback or redemption or whatever. Anything you guys want to say before you go back into the cards?" The young man raises the Holo-Gear.

Loki lowers his weapon slightly, the realization of his safety now confirmed.

A soft silence overtakes the room.

"I never wanted to be a hunter." Aeif finally admits, her soft voice breaking through the silence, "I just had no choice… and was thrown with a partner."

Alex looks away, "Neither did I… I just came along because it was… I was promised I'd never see… you." He points at Loki.

Loki takes a deep breath and looks at the twins, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry that your Loki was such a jerk to you."

Alex doesn't break his guard, "Says the guy leveling a rifle at my head."

"Says the kid who tried to essentially kill my whole family. Neither of us has the right to call out the other." Loki doesn't hesitate to clutch his rifle tightly, and begin to rub it… as if rubbing a cat.

And with that, a soft silence fills the room.

"Now that everything's at least slightly calmer…" Luke pulls out his phone and dials a familiar number, "Hey babe. How are ya? Good? That's great!" He goes, before his voice gains a soft seriousness to it, "Would you mind telling me where you're staying again? Uh huh. Listen we got two stragglers here. They look like Leif and Lexx if he wore a dress. You think you can take 'em in? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they wont do that. Look Loki's not the most stable right now. He's Dr. No'ing his rifle right now...yes that means petting it like a cat. Look it's either that or we… I know, don't worry they're clean! Just make sure they don't get your stuff... uh huh... you can take 'em then? Perfect!"

He quickly hangs up, "Good news you two. You're gonna go live with your big sister!"

Aeif rubs her arm, "Me and Alna were the only girls in my family…"

And Alex adds, "And my sister… left before I could meet her…"

Luke sighs, "It's either this or getting carded again. And I'm pretty sure you want more of a life than what they made you do."

Alex sighs, "True..."

Aeif sighs as well, "Fine... We'll go…"

"Good." Luke goes, before taking a deep breath, "Now why don't you two turn around and stare at the corner while I talk to Loki?"

"What? Why?" The twin hunters complain, only for a fierce expression to overtake the young man's face, causing them to immediately comply.

"What is it Luke?" Loki begrudgingly asks.

"How are you feelin' bro?" Luke sits on his bed.

" _Is he seriously asking me that?"_ Loki stands by for a moment, awestruck by his brother's lack of understanding, "Are you trying to outdo Loni or something?"

"Right…" He looks away and rubs the back of his head, "Dumb question. My bad." He looks his older brother in his eyes, "So do you want to put down the loaded rifle? It's already gone off once man."

He shakes his head.

Luke sighs, "Well, we need you downstairs. We need to fake an accident for Linka..."

"You mean Lincoln." He corrects.

"She agreed to still be called Linka so we don't mess up and blow the secret." He stands up, "Anyways, we need to make it look like the shiners you and the real Linka gave her were accidents, so none of us get carted off to your old stomping grounds."

Loki hesitates, taking a moment to remember his own experiences at the academy. With a begrudging sigh, he goes, "Fine, I'll help."

The younger brother smiles, "Great. Now come down. We need your help tearing up the trophy case."

"The trophy case?" Loki's voice fills with confusion.

Luke nods, "Yeah, to make sure that none of us would get screwed over, we've decided that it'd be a good idea to use the trophy case as the scapegoat..."

The older brother pinches the bridge of his nose, "You are aware that's a dumb idea, right?"

Luke flails his arms up, "We've got nothing better!"

"How about instead we say that Linka opened the case and it fell out? Dad puts the trophies in remember?" Loki looks at his brother in annoyance.

"Oh…" Luke awkwardly rubs the back of his head. "Well… ok then!" He motions towards the twins, "If that's the case, I'll deal with these guys."

Loki nods, and head out of the room and down the stairs. And as he does, he leans Trevor's card towards his mouth, bites it and attempts to tear it in half… only to find it wouldn't break. "Dangit." In annoyance, he simply throws the card in the trash to be discarded later.

And a few moments later, he's downstairs.

"Loki, I need some help!" Linka meekly greets while she works on covering Lars' graze wound.

Loki stares at the young girl in contempt, his anger building, _"Did she hurt Lars?! This… this monster, this liar this… this thing hurt my brother!"_ Before he realizes it, the rifle butt hits the young girl's side. Luckily, the quick, yet loose movement caused the weapon to not hold as much force as it would otherwise.

Linka falls to the floor with that, now clutching her injured side while Lars looks on in shock, "Loki... why?" She groans.

The young man grits his teeth and clenches his fists. Pained tears begin to fall from his eyes as he leans down and takes the injured girl in his arms. Lars responds by standing up as well, "Come on Link... Lincoln. Let's get you and Lars to the hospital."

And with that, Loki walks over, opens the still intact trophy case, pulls out a certain dancing trophy, and drops it on the floor. The trio then step out of the home, mount Loki's motorcycle and drive off, leaving the others behind.

 _ **Meanwhile...  
**_

Nyla quickly secures her vest and open-fingered gloves. She had ditched the hunter cloak and uniform, after she realized that there was no need for it anymore.

Instead, she wears a pink tank top under a purple denim jacket, as well as a dark-purple skirt. Though, she found the hunter boots quite fitting, and decided to keep them. Luckily, the purple and white doesn't look too out of place.

 _"So... two more disavowed agents that aren't gonna be carded?_ _That's pretty interesting."_ She quickly steps out of her small apartment and heads down the stairs. _"Well... my apartment isn't that big... but if they're the twins' size, that should be more than enough... hopefully."_

Once she stands in front of the apartment door, she checks her bag once more, "Holo-Gear check." Before she steps out into the late winter town.

Immediately, a gust of air blows in her face, which she doesn't hesitate to breath in, "Ahh." She smiles, "Ya know, being stuck in my hometown isn't as bad as I thought it would be." She smiles. "At least-"

 _ **"Warning!"**_ Nyla's holo gear goes off. _**"Emergency Teleportation Device Activated! Incoming!"**_

"What the?" She drops her bag and pulls out her small shield-like device... only for it to release a small bubble, protecting her from… something.

"Ok... what the heck is going on?!" She shouts, only for a portal to open next to her, and from it, a battered Nell falls through.

"Nell?!" She shouts, while the slightly older blonde groans in pain. The younger woman kneels down and helps her to her feet, "Who did this to you?!"

"Lyle…" She goes, while the younger girl supports her.

"Dangit." She mutters, before helping Nell walk, "Welp, it looks like we're headed home."

And with that, Nyla begins helping Nell along the road to the Loud House.

 _ **An Hour Later…**_

*Knock* *Knock* the door goes.

"Coming!" Luke runs over and opens it, revealing both Nell and Nyla waiting for him.

"Hey Nyla… what's she doing here?" Luke tilts his head.

"I'll explain, but first, let's get her on the couch, she needs to rest."

Luke nods, before going under Nell's free arm and helping Nyla bring her over to the soft chair.

"What happened?" Luke asks, while the twins come down the stairs to join them.

Nyla turns to Luke with that, "First, are these the stragglers I was told about?" She motions towards the twins.

"Yeah, you mind takin' em?"

"Not at all." She goes, "My apartment's just fine." She glares at them, "So long as they don't touch my stuff, we'll be fine."

"Is that ok with you two?" Luke turns to the twins, and they both nod in a begrudging affirmation.

Luke then turns back to Nyla, "You sure you can handle them?"

Nyla nods, "Course, I had to deal with ten brothers after all!"

The twins' eyes go wide in shock, "You lived in a big family too?!"

"Yeah." She responds, "Now, if I take you, will you behave?"

The twins look at each other and sigh, before Aeif goes, "Yeah… you remind me of my brother, Auke."

"And my brother John…" Alex adds.

"Good." Nyla goes, before taking a deep breath as well. "Now, I have to explain what's going on, huh?"

Luke nods, "Kinda, why's Nell so banged up?"

"Well…" Nyla rubs the back of her head, "You see… our class three supervisor is coming."

"What?" Luke tilts his head, while the twins simply step back in fear.

"The Anomaly Control and Elimination Task Force is made up of thousands of thousands of hunters scouring the universe for anomalies." She takes a deep breath, "However, it's difficult to manage this many units at a time. So to do so, command breaks hunters down into classifications."

She then pulls out her Holo-Gear and types in a few commands, causing it to project the image of a small pyramid, "At the bottom, and the majority of hunters, are the class ones. They deal with minor disturbances and usually move to handle issues quickly."

Nyla then motions to the second tier; "Above class one are the class twos like myself and these two." She then motions towards herself, "If a threat is declared to be too much for class ones to handle, us class twos will take over, sometimes commanding a squad of class ones to help us contain and eliminate threats…. Then there are the class threes."

The air in the room goes cold, as a wave of fear overtakes the four hunters. The young woman motions toward the third tier on the pyramid, "No one knows much about how they're chosen, but they are the most skilled members of the AEU. They are only called in to handle disavowed hunters and serious threats."

"So what's going on with Nell here? Did she run into a class three hunter?" Luke leans closer to her.

The girl nods, "Yeah, specifically, our unit supervisor." She taps on the diagram, revealing a massive tree branch of command, "You see, every class three has a squad of class twos under them. Nell and I had the same one."

"So that's how she knew you when we met her?"

"Yeah." Nyla continues, "Since we've been disavowed, our class three supervisor has no doubt been sent to round us up and card us."

"So... that's your fate worse than death huh?" Luke jokes, though Nyla remains deadpan, "Yes. Dealing with a class thee is extraordinarily difficult."

She looks at the twins knowingly.

"How come?" Luke tilts his head, "From what I've seen, beat them once and they card themselves."

"Class threes are exempt from that rule." Nyla's voice gains a harsh solemnity to it.

Luke's eyes go wide in shock.

"Yep, command tolerates their losses because most of the time, something interferes that they were not expected to handle." The young girl sighs, "Heck, that's just the stuff the rest of us are allowed to see!"

"Wow..." Luke goes, his voice filling with worry, "So... do you know how long it'll be before the class three comes along?"

"Well, seeing as we're not cards, I suspect command ordered her to stand down. For the time being, we're safe." She sighs, "But, if you or Link causes too much commotion, command will be forced to send my supervisor." Nyla gulps in fear, "Lyle."

"Understood..." Luke goes.

*Cough* *Cough* Nell goes, before pushing herself up, "Hey guys. What'd I miss?"

Without responding, Nyla throws her arms around the girl, "Thank goodness you're all right!"

"Heh, thanks for the help Nyla!" Nell puts her own arms around the young girl as well, causing the latter to blush, "After all, you know I'm tougher than I look!"

Nyla shakes her head, "Still, I was worried for ya!"

"Same sis, same." Nell's voice is filled with soft honey, "You've been disavowed for so long, I thought I'd never see you again!"

The duo breaks the hug with that.

"Now come on, let's head to my place, I'll get you guys more casual clothes to wear there." The young woman than stands up and motions for the disavowed hunters to follow.

"Kay Nyla, I guess I'll be seeing ya." Luke rubs the back of his head.

Nyla immediately throws her arms around him, and gives him a big kiss, leaving the young man in shock.

"Don't worry Luke. I'm free for our date next week." She breaks their kiss and smiles, causing Luke to blush harder.

"You got it Nyla!" Luke quickly goes.

"Bye, Luke right?" Nell tilts her head in curiosity.

Luke nods, "Yeah." Then he looks at the twins, "Behave now, or else Nyla here will turn you into cards again. You don't want that, do you?" His voice is filled with a fatherly care.

The twin hunters both look down and shake their heads.

"Good." Luke continues, before nodding at Nyla. The latter grabs the twins' hands and walks them out the door with, "See ya later!"

And with that the ex-hunters walk out of the Loud House, leaving Luke all alone.

"Well..." he sighs, "At least things could always be worse."

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Lincoln paces his room, desperate to find a solution to his current situation, "How am I gonna stop that version of me from trying to take her life back?!"

"I think I may have a solution to your problem." A masculine voice goes, before a strange man appear before the child.

"W-Who are you!?" Lincoln cracks his knuckles and prepares to throw a punch. "I've practiced martial arts, and I'm not afraid to go Kung Fu up your butt!"

However, this only amuses the man. "I am the Guardian of Dimensions, and I have come to make a deal."

23-9-12-12-9-1-13 3-18-25-16-20-15-19 9-19 14-15-20 23-8-1-20 8-5 19-5-5-13-19! 2-9-12-12 3-9-16-8-5-18 23-21-26 8-5-18-5!

 **A/N Wow, 21 chapters, I can't believe it. Wow… this is for reference: the longest story, chapter-wise, I wrote at this point, was my second story: "Code Omega" (It sucks, don't read it) at 26 chapters. That took almost a year to write. The longest I've ever taken to write something was a year and 9 months, and that was a collection I lost interest in towards the end: Life's Choices. Next week, I'm posting last chapter to my one-shot collection, "The Broken House".**

 **I started writing this exactly 21 weeks ago and I haven't changed the way I write still… wow. So much has happened and yet, so little at the same time.** **Man, I'm really getting philosophical aren't I? Heh, anyways, I've decided that to commemorate this story getting… everything that it has, that I'd tell you guys how this idea started.**

 **First, let's get this out of the way: This wasn't intended to be a full-length story. The A/N in chapter 1 is proof, I originally wanted this to be a one-shot collection with an over-arcing storyline, hence the method of story telling, especially early on.**

 **Another fun fact, the original title for this story was, "Legacy of the Shadowman." And would've involved Lincoln and Ronnie Anne searching for the 4 fragments of the Macguffin, in order to fulfill the deal they made with the titular character. That story never got passed a completed chapter 1. (If people want, I'll post it so someone else could use it). There's more, but I can't say without spoiling this story.**

 **Anyways, I thank Wolvenstrom and Exotos135 for all their help! And as always, feel free to send in ideas for stuff you'd like to see! The next story involves another sibling who's name starts with L and ends with I!**

 **Also, remember those boards I had to take a few weeks ago? I got my grade in yesterday! I got a 92%! The passing grade is 87.5%! I'm now certified!**


	22. Science, Fiction, And Loud Kids!

**A/N Hey guys, I'm back! School's a pain, especially around this time of year, but I won't give up! Also, Exotos informed me that he can't access his laptop; so if you read his work don't worry, he's all right.**

 **As always, R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Linka decides to help Levi out, and Levi's revelation. "**_ _ **Say he keeps it to himself for the most part except when the convention for it comes around only to find that he can't get their like he normally does and is too young to go by himself." (Requested by Wolvenstrom).**_

Story Twenty-Two: Science, Fiction, And Loud Kids!

A soft hush falls over the converted linen closest, as the boy stares at the being standing before him.

"Yeah, the Guardian Of Dimensions." Lincoln hardens his gaze and clenches his fists, before backing up and preparing to fight, "Who are you really, and why are you really in my room?!"

William takes off his top hat, revealing his pure white hair, "My apologies, my entrance was a bit… sudden to say the least." The old man speaks with a respectful tone. He then dusts the dark headwear off, before securing it back on his head, "My name is William Cryptos, and I am the Guardian Of Dimensions."

"Yeah?' Lincoln goes, his gaze does not waver before the man who, from what he can see, could easily get the upper hand in a fight.

"Please, relax Mr. Loud." Cryptos smiles, "Or should I say, Ms. Linka Loud, after all, you have taken the place of your male counterpart."

Lincoln's eyes go wide in shock, before he shakes his head, "Whatever, so you know the truth." He loosens his stance and stands up straight, "What do you want anyway?"

"I've come to make a deal with you." He answers, before folding his hands behind his back and turning to face the small, rounded window.

"A deal?" The boy looks at the man with a suspicious gaze, "What kinda deal?"

" _Ahh yes, that question. They always ask that question."_ William gazes out into the moonlit night, a soft smile forming on his face, _"And yet, people never know what to expect, even when I tell them."_ Then, with a soft, almost father-like voice, he answers, "I know of your secret because it is my job to make sure all of reality remains stable."

"Yeah? So?" Lincoln goes, "What, you're gonna send me home now or something?" He crosses his arms in contempt, "If you know the truth then you probably know that I don't wanna go home either!"

The man chuckles, "Haha, why yes my dear Linka-"

"Call me Lincoln! I haven't been called that name in months."

William takes a minute to recompose himself, before he continues, "On the contrary, my dear Lincoln, I know very well of your desire to stay here and of the conversation you just had with your… siblings." He turns to face the child. "Now, normally I would send you home and return the dimensions to their most stable state, but to do so requires more power than I would care to use in a matter as… trivial as this one."

"So… go on…" Lincoln goes, his stance now all but broken and his head now tilted in both curiosity and confusion.

"I have decided to let you stay here and allow the dimension to integrate you to it." He stands up straight and holds his hands back.

Lincoln's eyes go wide, "Ra-Really?!"

"Yes." He answers, "However, I will only allow this to be so long as you hold up your end of the deal."

"What do I have to do?"

The man turns away once more, "I have work being done in certain dimensions, and I fear the actions of your current sisters may interfere in this work." He turns back and looks into the young boy's eyes. "I need you to distract your sisters until my work is complete, after that I will allow you to stay, unimpeded."

Lincoln hesitates for a moment, seemingly unsure of how to respond. _"This is just too good to be true!"_ He thinks, _"The day I decide I need to find a way to stay here permanently, this guy comes telling me I can!"_ Yet, instead of responding joyfully, he simply crosses his arms in skepticism, "What's the catch."

Yet the man simply shakes his head, "No catch. I'll allow you to stay." Then he rubs his chin, "Hmm, though I suppose just being allowed to stay isn't enough…" He thinks for a moment, before snapping his fingers, "A-ha! I know! How about, along with being allowed to stay here, I give you the ability to travel between dimensions?" William chuckles, "What do you think."

" _The ability to travel between dimensions…"_ The boy's heart races in excitement, _"That means… I'll be able to stop my counterpart from trying to get back here!"_ Without another thought he nods and replies, "You got yourself a deal!"

"Splendid!" William's voice fills with excitement, "I'd say you'll have to distract them for a month or two, is this all right?"

He nods, "I just wanna know, why do you need me to distract them."

The man chuckles, "It's elementary, my dear Watson. It is impossible to do anything important when you're distracted." He then holds his arm up, "Now, just shake my hand and we'll have a deal." The guardian's amulet glows with soft blue light.

"Let's do this." Lincoln responds and shakes the man's hand, causing some of the blue light to fall upon him.

"Good luck, 'Lincoln' Loud of Dimension C-137!" He goes, before disappearing with a soft glow.

" _Now, how am I gonna distract my sisters for two months…"_ He thinks for a moment, _"I can't make them think I'm suicidal… Can't fake a sickness…"_ He snaps his fingers, before turning around and walking out of the room, _"The stairs? Those'll do just fine!"_

Then, he turns… and proceeds to throw himself down the stairs.

No doubt he's gonna feel that in the morning.

Yet, just a few feet away, albeit hidden behind the veil of dimensions, William watches as the young boy falls down the stairs, no doubt severely injured by the fall. "All according to plan." He whispers.

The young boy's sisters rush to his aid and bring him outside, no doubt on a trip to the emergency room. That should keep that pesky child from interfering in my plans." He clutches his pendant, "I cannot allow anything to set me back. Two fragments have already been collected, and I sense the next will be found soon.

Then, he turns to another open portal, this one displaying a young girl with two black eyes, "She hasn't failed me yet." And with that, he turns once more and leaves, "Now then, time to hold back the AEU."

 _ **One Week Later, In Dimension 63i'\…**_

Linka wakes up, floating in an empty space, with the only light present coming from her own body. "Where am I?"

"Qrwklqj lv wuxh!" A voice shouts, before a young woman, with long, flowing white hair appears before her, "Wkh vkdgrzpdq lv qrw zkdw kh vhhpv!"

"What the… what the heck is going on?!" Linka shouts in shock, floating slightly back as she does so.

Yet, before the young woman answers, she glows with soft golden light, before thousands of strings appear with gears of all shapes, sizes and configurations appear.

"Brx pxvw surwhfw wkh glphqvlrqdo jhdu!" The figure pleads, Brx fdqqrw doorz wkh hohphqw wr rshq!"

Yet, Linka looks on in confusion, "I don't understand anything you're saying!" She throws her arms down in front of her, "Please, slow down!"

The figure takes a deep breath, before she whispers, "Nothing is true, everything is permitted."

And with that, the space around the young girl glows with bright blue light, as the figure disappears.

* * *

"Huh, huh." Linka pants as jolts awake, "What the… what was that?" Her voice is filled with a pained worry. She quickly takes a look around, eager to make sure things had not shifted since she had fallen asleep.

Though, after a few minutes of worriedly looking around, she takes a deep breath and calms down. _"Phew, I'm still here."_ With her worries hed at bay, she turns and hops to her feet.

*Yawn* She stretches, before turning and opening her room door, revealing the casual and semi-loud noise of the Saturday morning. Immediately, Linkan raises an eyebrow in confusion, "What the… why is everyone so quiet?"

"I believe I can answer that, elder female sibling." Levi greets, appearing by the young girl's side as he does so.

"G'ahh!" Linka goes, jumping away in surprise, "Oh hi Levi..." she looks at him in shock, "Wow, that's the first time someone other than Lars startled me like that!"

Levi adjusts his glasses and dusts his sweater off, "My apologies. My small stature and dark clothing must have made it difficult for you to notice me."

Linka takes a second to recompose herself, "It's all right Levi." She squats down to his height, "Now, why don't you tell me why you and the guys are so quiet this morning?"

The young scientist then raises his hand and begins to count, "Let's see, Loki is currently sharpening his combat knife… for some reason."

The girl shivers as to the possible reasons, _"I don't think he's gotten over the fact that Linka rejected him."_

Levi continues, "Loni had a burst of creativity and is currently drawing some plans for whatever, Luke is testing my dimensional goggles version 1.2, Lane..." Levi rubs his head, "I think is working on a comedy routine. Lynn Left for practice earlier, Lars is writing in the vents, and the twins are still asleep." Then he motions to his own room, "I was just about to leave, while Leon is still asleep."

"Huh, why are you guys so tired then?" Linka tilts her head in curiosity.

"Simple reason female sibling." He motions towards the stairs, which now have padding on each step as well as at the base and the top, "We spent a few hours last night installing padding in order to prevent you from getting harmed."

"Why's dad so worried again?"

"Simple, remember the double periorbital hematoma you sustained last week?" He answers… causing the girl to look at him and tilt her head in confusion, "Uhh, Levi, what are you talking about?"

"The two black eyes you received last week."

"Oh, those?" Linka goes, "It was an accident! I thought he'd be over it by now!" She flares her arms up in annoyance.

"He's not. It's a good thing we're good with out hands." Levi sighs, "It took two hours to install all of the padding.

Linka sighs, "Oh, ok then, that explains it…" Then she looks at her borther, "By the way, what are you doing today anyways? You didn't mention it."

Levi simply turns around, "I have an important science presentation at the college today, and I was just about to ask for someone assistance getting ready?"

"Aren't you a child genius, Levi? What do you of all people, need help with?"

"Well, you see." He turns back to face her and nervously taps his fingers together, "I have to get ready and since I'm still only four-years-old…"

"You need someone to help you get ready huh?" Linka chuckles, "Sure bro, I'd be more than happy to help my genius bro get ready for his big presentation!"

"Wh… really?!" He goes in surprise.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"It's just… you usually would just tell me go ask someone else to do it…" He goes, his voice going low. "Because helping me get dressed and shower was too awkward…"

" _Ehh, I used to have the thing he does. So I don't think helping him shower will be much of a problem."_ She rubs his hair affectionately, "I don't mind at all bro, now, how about you grab your towel and loofa? I'll wait right here."

Levi nods and does just that. Afterwards, they head into the bathroom and Linka does what she promised.

A few minutes pass, before Linka emerges from the bathroom, now carrying the young Levi in her arms as if he were a baby.

"Thank you for your assistance Linka." He smiles, as his sister brings him into his room.

"No probs bro." She smiles, " _I really haven't spent that much time with him... have I? It's been five months and all I've done with him is ask him for the goggles and test them out..."_

She sets him down on the floor, before she goes, "Hey Levi..."

"Yes Linka?" the scientist walks over to his nearby drawers and begins to dress himself.

Linka rubs the back of her head, "So uhh… what are you gonna be doin' at this presentation thing, anyways?"

Levi continues preparing to leave, "Well, since I have completed a plethora of soon-to-be-published research, I will be presenting my findings in front of a large crowd of my peers… along with listening to what my peers have found."

"Huh, why don't I go with you then?" She steps closer to him and rubs his hair, "I mean, it could be fun!"

Immediately, Levi turns around and puts his hands in front of him, attempting to block her, "No! No, no, no!" You wouldn't like it at all! The only things you're gonna see are some uhh…" He quickly thinks, before continuing, "People with weird interests in algae and uhh… people trying to find the meaning of life!"

"Forty-two?" Linka tilts her head at Levi's sudden change of mood, "You sure you don't want me to go bro? I mean, it does sound interesting…"

Levi nods in affirmation, "Yes, I'm sure female sister." He quickly throws on his typical green sweater and maroon pants.

"Well then… how about afterward then? Could we, I dunno, hang out or something?"

"I apologize sister, but I am much to busy with..." he hesitates for a moment, as if considering the idea, "Multiple ongoing studies about the interdimension and quantum physics."

"Oh… ok then." Linka goes. She squats down and rubs his head, "Good luck bro."

"Thank you sister." He responds, before grabbing his nearby satchel and walking out of the room, "I will see you again later."

"See ya later too." Linka gives a small wave as she watches her younger brother walk out of sigh. With that, too walks out of the room with that, and sighs. " _I really haven't been a great sister to Levi... the real Linka probably wasn't either... back home, I was the only one Lisa really trusted to help her with experiments. When he comes home I'll definitely try to do something with him."_

"Kids! Breakfast is ready!" Rita declares, and Linka simply walks down the, now padded, stairway and walks downstairs.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"How are you feelin' Lincoln?" Lori asks, as she brings her younger… sibling a small bowl of soup.

"I'm all right." The boy responds, before using his uninjured right arm to grab the bowl. The young boy had sustained a broken arm and leg on his left side… as well as a few minor injuries to his face.

"Well, male sibling." Lisa speaks up, "I've done the calculations, and it seems you'll be stuck in this condition for quite a while."

Lincoln leans over, and looks at his four-year-old genius of a sister, "How long do you think sis?"

"According to the amount of bones you broke after falling down the stairs… it seems that you'll be bedridden for about… three to four months…"

"Dangit." The boy mutters, though he thinks, _"That's more than enough time to fulfill my end of the deal! I just have to stay like this and keep em busy!"_

"I still don't understand how you fell down the stairs bro…" Luna adds, "I mean, you've gone down those stairs so many times before! There's no way you could've just lost your balance or something!"

"I don't know sis… I just don't know." The boy responds, before taking a sip of the hot soup and grimacing.

Lori immediately takes it from him, "Sorry bro, I'm not used to making soup…"

"It's ok Lori… why don't you try again?" Lincoln nonchalantly waves her away. The girl nods, and with her free hand begins to text Bobby, while walking out of the young boy's room.

"I'll call you guys when I need you, ok?" The boy looks at his sisters. And the girls comply by walking out of his room.

Luke sighs, before he goes, "Wheatley, I've seen enough, you can disable viewing mode now!"

" _ **You got it Luke!"**_ The A.I. says in his typical British accent. And with that, the world around Luke disappears, before reforming as his own room. Wordlessly, he takes the goggles off and takes a deep breath, _"Great… I'm not sure if I should be happy that Linka's hurt or try to rush to her side… well this is just dandy, isn't it?"_

 _ ***Beep* *Beep***_ Luke's phone goes.

" _Who could that be?"_ He takes the device in his hand, unlocks it, and reads, _**"Hey Luke, you wanna hang out today? I've convinced Nell to watch the twins for the day." –Nyla.**_

"Well… spending the day with my girlfriend couldn't be that bad…" Luke takes a breath, "Anything to get my mind off my… sister…" He then texts back, _**"Sure, how about we meet at your place in an hour? That good with you?" –Luke.**_

" _ **Yep!"**_ _ **–Nyla.**_

And with that, the young man jumps off his bed and gets to work preparing to leave.

 _ **Later…**_

"Well… the boy's are out of energy for once… I don't know what to do…" Linka whispers, as she passes by her youngest sibling's room. She quietly turns to face it, _"Now that I think of it… I wonder what he's been working on lately…"_

Her curiosity peaks. _"Ehh, looking inside couldn't hurt…"_ She leans inside, only to find the room in the same condition she had left it in… surprisingly enough.

" _I wonder…"_ She calmly walks over to the crib and picks up the infant resting inside, _"I can't wait to take care of my own one day... Dangit Link! Get it out of your head!"_

After she quietly tickles his nose, Leon cutely laughs. "So cute." After that, she places the child back in his crud and turns to face the Levi's desk. _"I wonder what he's been workin' on lately."_ She quietly walks over to it and takes a look. For the most part, it's nice and orderly. With staplers, a lab notebook and over miscellaneous materials held aside and organized with great care, "Heh, I'm not surprised." Linka chuckles... as her eyes fall on a stack of papers.

"Huh… a stack of papers…" She quickly reads the title and abstract. Immediately her heart begins to race in surprise. "Wait… these are his notes on quantum physics and the Dimensional Goggles… He forgot them!"

" _Crud… what am I gonna do? I can't let him go up without his notes!"_ She thinks for a moment, before snapping her fingers, "I know what to do!" She grabs the notes and rushes out of the room and over to Loki and Loni's room.

She quickly glances in her eldest brother's room... only to find Loki angrily sharpening the knife he had been given in the academy, while Loni was hard at work working on schematics for his latest creation, "Nope, not asking them."

She then turns around and checks her next sibling's room… only to find look putting on his gloves.

"Hey Luke, where ya goin'?" She asks.

He turns to her and answers, "I'm goin' out with Nyla."

Immediately, Linka's voice fills with panic, "You sure that's a good idea bro? I mean, those twins…"

"Nell's got em covered." He cuts her off.

"Ok then…" Linka goes, "Have fun I guess!"

"Thanks sis." Luke finishes, before turning and continuing to get ready.

The young girl sighs, "Well, I guess he's out." Suddenly, the bathroom door opens up, revealing a young man in suspenders holding a puppet on his left hand.

"Lane!" Linka cheerfully greets, "Am I glad to see you!"

Lane puts on a sheepish smile, "Yeah sis?"

"Would you mind taking me to Levi's meeting? He forgot some papers and..."

The young man puts on a nervous smile before speaking through his dummy, Mrs. Coconuts, "Linka, how do you describe life?"

The girl tilts her head in confusion. "I dunno, how?"

"Life is easy, but women make it hard!" He finishes, the sheepish smile on his face becoming more pained. "Just like **another** part of my body!"

Linka stares at him in both annoyance and anger, before looking away, "You could've just said no."

Lane sighs, before turning and entering his bedroom.

"Sorry Linka, I can't help you today." Lynn goes, "I've got uhh... hockey practice today, I just came home to pick up some stuff."

 _"More like practicing that move you've been struggling with. And you came home for lunch."_ Linka immediately thinks before sighing, "Ok Lynn. I understand. Have fun."

"Thanks sis, see ya!" And with that, Lynn walks passed her, down the stairs and out the door once more.

"How about you Lars?" she turns to her Gothic brother.

"Sorry, but I have to stay near Loki in case he tries to do something." He walks over to the open vent, "It may have been a week since we got injured..." he shows his graze wound, "But he's not in he best mindset, so I don't think it'll be a good idea to leave him alone."

"Are you sure you can handle him on your own?" Linka nervously asks, yet the boy simply nods, "Yes, I have been able to hide how I got cut after all. Sigh, plus I came to terms with you; well, being who you are a while ago… He needs more time to take it in." He puts on a pained smile as he turns to her, "I'm fine, really."

Linka gives him a skeptical look, before letting a breath go, "Ok bro… I'll see ya later then."

And with that, the Goth boy disappears into the vents.

" _Great, who am I gonna ask now? I can't ask Lexx or Lars cause they're too young!"_ She sighs and walks back to her room. She takes a quick look around, causing her eyes to fall upon her phone, _"Well… I think I've given him enough time to get over it..."_ She takes it in her hand and dials.

"Hey Ron Andy."

The boy hesitates, _**"Hey… Linka?"**_

She sighs, "Look, I know this is confusing, but I would like to explain it now. Do you wanna have that date?"

" _ **I would… but I'm busy today. There's an Anime and Sci-Fi convention today, and I'm headed to it with Cris. Ya know, guy stuff."**_

Linka's voice becomes downcast, "Oh… ok then, some other time."

And with that, the phone goes silent.

"Dangit... I knew he wouldn't be ready to hang out after the truth came out..." she grabs her nearby walkie-talkie and goes, "Hey Claudia, you there?"

A moment of silence passes, "Hey Linc... Lincoln."

"Just call me Linka, it won't confuse anyone." The girl continues.

"L-Linka... hey. What's up?" The dark-skinned girl's voice is filled with worry.

"Well... I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today? I have to bring some stuff over to my bro and..." she rubs the back of her head, "And since we haven't really spent time together after... you know. I think it would be a nice way to answer some questions."

Claudia hesitates, "I'm not sure... Cristopher..."

"He's busy with Ron Andy today. Come on, it'll probably be fun!"

"It could be…" The girl hesitates, "Ok then... I'll go with ya."

"Awesome, I'll meet at your place in a few." Linka's voice fills with excitement.

"Got it." And with that, the device goes silent.

Linka immediately turns and rushes down the stairs.

"Hey dad, can I hang out with Claudia today?" she runs up to her father, and asks him with an excited voice.

"I dunno... it could be dangerous... you just got two black eyes..." his voice trails off nervously

Linka puts on the cutest begging smile she can muster for her father, "Please daddy. I wanna go to Levi's lecture with her." She then motions toward her partially healed eyes, "Plus, my eyes have almost finished healing! I'll be fine!"

"Oh all right, you can go." He sighs, "But be safe. Levi told me he was going to be at 618 Gopher road."

Linka throws her arms around her father, "Thanks daddy!" And with that, she bolts out the door.

 _ **A Few Minutes Later...**_

The two friends stand on the front steps of the Royal Woods Convention center. The sun above illuminates the worn steps no doubt laid when the structure was first built close to fifty years ago.

"So, uhh… Levi's there?" Claudia turns to face her friend.

Linka nods, "Yep." She quickly checks her bag, "And I've got his missing notes right here!"

"You sure this is the right place?" Claudia motions to some nearby teens, each dressed in… strange, multi-colored warrior and alien costumes.

"Yeah, this is 618 Gopher Road, right?" She goes, "I'm sure he's just presenting in the back or something, while those anime guys use the front!"

"Ok then." Determination fills Claudia and Linka's bodies, while the dark-skinned girl continues, "Let's do this."

And with that, Linka and Claudia rush inside the convention center, both of them bracing themselves for what could possibly be behind the glass doors…

Only for them to come face-to-face with a massive crowd of people- mostly teenagers of course, though some seem to be closing in on their thirties, while the youngest present seems to be accompanying their siblings or parents.

"What the heck?!" Linka shouts, "What's with this crowd."

Claudia thinks for a moment, before smacking herself, "Dangit! I forgot, today is the Royal Woods' Annual Comic Con!" She turns to her friend, "Every Comic nerd in the state's gonna be here!"

" _Wait… a comic con? I've always wanted to go to one of these…"_ Linka turns to her friend, "So uhh, I guess we're gonna have to break up to find him…"

"Yeah, it'll be hard to find him." She then turns away, "Good luck Linka! I'll check this part you check that one!"

"Good luck too, Claudia…" Linka shakes her head, _"Even if I'm not really Linka, she still treats me like her best friend…"_ Linka then turns once more, before moving through the crowd ahead of her.

It takes her close to an hour of forcing her way through the crowd of people and… doing some looking around for good comic, anime and sci-fi merchandise, for her to finally reach the opposite end of the convention center.

She takes a deep breath after emerging, before saying aloud, "Dangit! That smelled like sweat, tears, and Dorito Chips!" She takes a moment to recompose herself, before looking around the small, slightly cleared area. _"Now where the heck could Levi be?"_ Her eyes fall upon a set of wooden, double doors. _"Jackpot."_

Linka rushes over and grabs hold of it, _"I hope I'm not too late!"_

And with that, she opens the door…

Only to find her little brother, standing before a crowd with a staff outstretched in his left hand, and a book in his right… while he shouts, "Come my fellow brethren, I, the Cosmic Brain, with the powers of Aleister the Invoker shall lead you to victory!"

" _What the heck?!"_ Linka's eyes go wide.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

After a few minutes of looking and talking to random vendors, Claudia had bought a few figurines… and a shirt that had a weird child in a blue and purple striped shirt, and a red heart over them. Under it was the line, "Stay DETERMINED".

After donning her new shirt, Claudia rubs her head, "Now then… what was I supposed to do?" She quickly looks around, "I think I had to do something for Linka… but what was it…"

Suddenly, her eyes fall upon to familiar boys. Excitement builds in her chest, as she rushes over to them with, "Hey Cristopher and Ron Andy!"

Immediately, Cristopher blushes in embarrassment.

"Hey Claudia, what are you doin' here?" Ron tilts his head in confusion.

The dark-skinned girl flairs her arms up in annoyance, "What? A girl can't enjoy some good anime and sci-fi?!"

"No, it's just… I never thought you'd be into that stuff." The Latino boy rubs the back of head.

"Well I am." Claudia smiles, "Besides, I came here because Linka asked me to. But I forgot what I was supposed to do here…"

"You mean the impostor calling herself Linka?" Ron corrects, his voice filling with an unexpected pain.

She snaps her fingers in realization , "Oh right! Now I remember! She wanted to find her 'brother' Levi to give him some stuff."

"She's not really his brother." Ron clutches his fists, more pain filling his voice.

"Yeah, I know, but I mean…" Claudia rubs her arm in nervousness, unsure whether or not to try to justify herself further.

Cristopher speaks up, his voice filled with a pleading softness, "Come on, it can't be that bad you guys…"

"How much have you talked to Linka in the past few months?" Ron snaps and turns to his friend, his voice filling with annoyance.

"Very little…" The boy rubs his arm, "I'm not really friends with her after all…"

"Yeah, you don't know." His voice fills with pain, "I actually do like her… and the past few months with her were some of the best I ever had. But…" He fights the pained tears, "I don't know what to think! I made a lemonade stand to impress her!" He holds his head, before turning around, walking over to the nearby wall and hits it against the steel and concrete.

"I'm so stupid!" He goes, "I should've noticed when she started acting more carefree!"

"Ron…" Claudia holds his shoulder, "I need to ask you something…"

"What?!" He turns to face her, "What could possibly be so important?!"

Yet, Claudia does not waver, "Do you still like her?"

He leans back, against the wall he had hit his head against, before looking away, "I don't know anymore. She looks like the girl I fell in love with, and… her personality has really grown on me… But I just… I feel like… I don't know! I feel like I like her! That's all I know!"

Claudia sits down next to him, "I was infatuated with her too. She seems… better this way." She turns to him, "What will you do to keep her?"

"Anything I need to." He answers, "I just… I haven't been sure…"

"Sure of what?" Claudia goes, "If you legitimately like her, why don't you go ahead and tell her the truth?" She smiles, at Cristopher, "It couldn't hurt after all."

"I'm just worried about the real Linka… what'll happen when she comes back?" He sighs, "And what'll I do when I imagine her as she is?" He holds his head, in confusion.

"Like I always say, don't think about it." Softness enters her voice, "If you like her still, then give her a chance… even if this imposter is weird."

Ron sighs, "Still…"

Cristopher speaks up once more, "How about we try to enjoy the convention now?"

"You know what, I think that's a good idea." Ron stands up, "It's a good idea to get my mind off this stuff."

"Agreed." Claudia adds."

The three friends nod with that, and return to the convention around them.

 _ **Back With Linka…**_

"Uhh, Levi, what's going on?" Linka walks over and taps her brother.

The boy jumps in surprise, before turning to face his sister. Instead of the green sweater and maroon pants Linka had seen him leave in, the young boy now wears an overly complicated set of white robes, decorated with metallic highlights, and golden trim. He wears a small red tie and a silk white cape, "Uhh… hey sis! I was just uhh…"

"There was no meeting. Was there?" Linka squats down to his height and looks into his eyes.

He shakes his head in shame, and looks away as he answers "No. I lied so our male siblings wouldn't find out I'm a fan of Japanese animation and science fiction…"

"Why though?" Linka tilts her head in curiosity.

"You wouldn't understand, sister." He looks down, "You just wouldn't."

" _I hope the time I spent with Lisa has paid off!"_ The young girl takes hold of Levi's face, "Don't worry bro, no matter what you say, I'll understand."

"You will?" Skepticism fills his voice as he looks up at her.

"Yeah bro, I'll understand." She adjusts herself and takes a knee in front of the boy, while placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, _"After all, I did used to read Manga on the roof."_ She looks into his eyes, "I just wanna know why you never told us. I love anime too after all!"

"Y-you do?!" Levi goes in surprise, eliciting a nod from his sister, "Yep, now why don't you tell me why you didn't tell us that you were gonna go here? I would've loved to come!"

Levi holds his are in embarrassment, _"_ Of course you'd wanna know that." He looks her in the eyes and takes a deep breath, "It's because I'm four, Linka." His voice fills with a heat, uncharacteristic of his stoic personality, "I'm four-years-old, and yet I'm a college graduate with more PHD's than people ten times my age…" His voice trails off, before he stalls for time with, "And patents, and doctorates, and books and a few Junior Nobel Prizes…"

"Yeah?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of my accomplishments, but…" He turns to face the group of random people dressed in whatever random costumes they could throw together, "Do you realize how much work that is to do in the short amount of time I did it in? How much pressure the press looking to interview 'the miracle genius boy', or jealous colleagues and hard-nosed professors eager to see me fail pile on me? I'm pressured to excel almost constantly by academia like I'm some sort of performing monkey!" He throws his arms up in annoyance, "Heck! I teach at a university where everyone else my age on the campus is in the daycare, yet I can't go across town on the bus by myself" He takes a moment to calm down, before taking one more deep breath, "I just wanted some time to get to enjoy acting my age for once."

The girl hesitates for a moment, "You know you don't have to be anything around us. I'm annoyed you didn't tell me!"

Levi sighs once more, "I'm sorry sis…"

A faint shock emanates in the young girl's mind, _"That's the first time he's called me sis…"_

"When I'm not tutoring more than half our brothers so they cant scrape a pass, I'm helping dad balance the finances and doing the taxes, and that's not during the moments when we have to drop everything for your sake. The only real fun I get to have is joining in on whatever random things you guys abuse the ARC system for… and we can't even do that too much or the neighbors will start complaining again."

With tears welling up in his eyes and his voice becoming more… soft, desperate, and warm, he continues, "Today is about me connecting with my inner four-year-old and not having to worry about experiments or proving a new thesis. Today… I just want to be Levi. Not professor. Not boy genius. Not anything. Just Levi Loud, ordinary four-year-old."

" _This couldn't hurt."_ Linka smiles, and ruffles the young boy's soft brown hair, "Really? And here I thought I was talking to the cosmic brain."

The young boy's eyes go wide in shock, "You-you know what my costume is?!" while he thinks, _"Linka… she never showed interest in anime before… or Battle Halberd 42k…"_

"Mm hmm. The cosmic brain, greatest intellect in 10 realities." She quickly looks to her sides and leans in, "Well, nine actually, but ten rolls off the tongue, don't ya think?"

Levi giggles like a little boy for a second as his sister quoted his favorite hero's most infamous line… before he throws his arms around her waist, "Thanks Linka."

"No problem bro."

"Promise you won't tell the others?" He begs.

Linka responds by rubbing his hair, "I won't." She then takes his hand in her own, "Now, how about we go enjoy the convention? I'm sure there will be plenty more stuff to do now."

Levi smiles and nods, and together, they walk back into the main convention hall.

* * *

"So, where would you like to go first bro?" Linka nonchalantly asks, "After all, we've got everything an anime or a sci-fi fan could ever want here!"

"H-how about uhh… we uhh…" Levi's voice trails off uncertainly.

Linka chuckles are her brother's admitted cute hesitation, "How about we visit some random stands first? I think I see one with Ace Savvy on it!"

Levi perks up, "Ace Savvy?! He's my favorite superhero!"

"Same here, bro. Same here." She smiles, _"At least some things are still familiar, and at least I'm finally getting to spend the quality time I promised myself I would spend with Levi…"_ She chuckles as they approach the stand.

"Hi there!" The vendor, a young woman with brown hair, greets.

"Hi." Linka responds, "What are you selling here?"

The vendor stands up and begins to motion at the various articles of merchandise, "We've got limited edition comics, cool shirts and mugs, special figures and like. All you've gotta do is ask and I'll give you the price!"

"So what do you think Levi?" Linka turns to her brother, "Come on, you're a fan of the comic aren't ya?"

Levi nervously rubs his arm and nods, "Yeah sis…" He looks up at the selections and points to one of the shirts, "How about that? It looks like it'll be nice to have."

"Haha!" Linka chuckles, "I'll take one shirt please. In small for my little bro here." She ruffles his hair, while she continues, "And I'll take some limited edition comics please!"

"You got it!" The woman turns around and pulls out the articles, and after quickly ringing the girl and her brother up, the duo walks away... Though Linka does peak back at the vendor waving away, and notices some of her merchandise blinks in and out of existence, _"Anomalies..."_

"You… you really like this stuff." Levi goes in shock, holding his sister's hand as if she were his mother. "You never told us..."

"We all have our secrets Levi." She answers, "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't do the same things you guys do after all!"

Levi looks away, "Dad told me that you were the only person I couldn't try to experiment with… he said my stuff was just too dangerous for you to do with me…"

" _Well that explains why he never asked me…"_ Linka thinks, before responding, "Come on Levi! I love science! Your crazy inventions make every more interesting!"

"But…"

"I don't mind getting hurt. I don't mind at all." She ruffles his hair again, "Now how about we visit another stand? After all, we are at a comic con after all!"

The young boy nods, before quickly scanning the area around him. "How about that one?!" He points at a stand decorated by Duel Monsters.

"Huh, I haven't heard about that game since Lexx and Leif almost blew up the house while fighting over a card." Linka quips, as she leads Levi over to the stand.

"Hi there!" The man greets.

"Hiya!" The girl responds, while Levi walks over and begins to examine the random packs and boxes that are sprawled out on the table.

Linka takes one of the pamphlets that are set on the table and reads, "The Royal Woods Annual Duel Monsters Tournament?" She looks at the man, "What's this?"

The man answers, "Every year, the members of the Duel Monsters Club of Royal Woods hold a tournament open to all fans of the game in town, to see who is the strongest!" He steps aside, revealing a small, staff-like object protected by a glass case, "The winner is allowed to take the trophy home with them.

*Beep* *Beep* Linka's watch goes, causing Linka to look down, _"What the…"_ She quickly reads the text that had appeared, _**"Matter Waves Detected!"**_ She looks up at the man, "Huh, when is it?"

"Next week! If you're interested, sign ups will happen the day of." The man answers, his voice filling with excitement.

Linka smiles, while noticing some of the cards off to the side were having a hard time deciding if they were supposed to be two or one. _"I guess the next fragment is right there. I just have to figure out what William meant."_ She turns to Levi, "How about we buy some cards? After all, we could have some fun using the ARC system after all!" While she thinks, _"Hopefully we can get it done before more start to pop up... I almost forgot why I'm on this mission anyway."_

Levi looks up to her in shock, before quickly nodding, "You got it sis!" And with that, they end up taking a few boxes worth of cards, before turning away.

Only to come across a few familiar faces.

"Hey Ron." Linka nervously greets, "What are ya doin' here?"

"I'm here cause it's a cool convention." Ron Andy nonchalantly answers, "So… uhh, why are you here?"

Linka smiles, "I'm here enjoying the convention with my bro here." She takes his hand in her own… before pulling him into a headlock and affectionately nuggie-ing him.

Levi nods in agreement.

"My… girlfriend is excited to be at a sci-fi con…" He whispers, before taking a deep breath, _"I think… maybe I should give this… girl a chance… For now."_ Then he finishes, "I don't know what to say besides, awesome!"

"Haha! That's all I need to hear!" Linka hugs him and smiles, before breaking away, "Anyways, I'm gonna spend some more time with my little bro here if you guys don't mind."

"Not at all. I'll see ya for our date later, ok?" Ron Andy shoves his hands in his pockets and smiles.

"I'd love it!" Linka shouts, "I'll see ya then! We'll plan more later!" She turns to Cristopher, "How about you Cris?"

Cristopher looks at Claudia and blushes, "I think I'm fine with that, have fun."

Then she looks at Claudia, "You ok spending time with these boys Claudia?"

Claudia nods, "Yeah." She glances at Cristopher, "I think I'll be fine here. Have fun with Levi! We'll hang out later ok?!" While she thinks, _"If Ron Andy is willing to stick with her, I'll stick with her just like I always have."_

"Thanks you guys." Linka takes Levi's hand in her own once more, and with that, they return to enjoying the convention.

 _ **Later...**_

"Levi, mind if I help you with this experiment?" Linka sticks her head in the young boy's room, "After all, you could always use some help!"

"I don't know sister... it's very dangerous..." Levi rubs the back of his nervously, while he watches his sister step into the room and walk over to him.

Linka places a hand on his shoulder, "I don't care bro, as long as it's fun, I wanna help you with it."

Levi smiles, "Thank you Linka." And with that, they get to work... though Levi can't help but think, _"Is Linka really who she says she is?"_

20-8-5 11-5-25 9-19 20-15 12-15-15-11 20-8-18-5-5 12-5-20-20-5-18-19 2-1-3-11…

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed this! This was meant to be a more… lighthearted bonding chapter between Lincoln and Levi since… the last two chapters were, well… yeah. Anyways, It's pretty obvious what the next story is gonna be. Though, it's gonna involve the brother who's name sounds like those things that grow on trees, and probably the girl who loves Ron Andy too!**

 **As always, I thank Wolvenstrom and Exotos135 for ideas!**


	23. A Game Of Duel Monsters

**A/N Hey guys, I'm back! And this time, I'm writing about my favorite card game, again! Great timing too, because today's the day the last episode of ARC-V airs, and I'll admit, it was a huge inspiration for this fic!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Linka and Leif play card games together! (Planned).**_

Story Twenty-Three: A Game Of Duel Monsters

"You sure it's a good idea to enter the tourney?" Claudia nervously asks, digging through her locker as she does so, "I mean, with those advanced hardlight monsters, it's gonna actually hurt when you get hit."

"Come on Claudia, I'm not that fragile." Linka pulls out a book and closes her locker, "After all, I've taken way worse than laser blasts to the face."

"Still..." Claudia slams her locker shut and walks by Linka's side, "What'll your brothers and parents say when you tell them you're planning on entering?"

Linka shrugs, "Not sure." She grabs hold of her bag and walks over to the front door and out of the school, "Though, what's the worst thing that could happen."

"Well, I'm not doing anything Saturday anyways. I'll be there." Claudia shrugs.

"Awesome, Ron Andy's gonna be there too, so in case something goes crazy with the fragment you'll get my family outta there." Linka's voice is filled with a soft relief.

"You got it!" The dark skinned girl responds, "Just make sure I don't have to spill anymore secrets!"

"Haha, no promises!" Linka laughs, and with that, the two girls walk home

Yet, nearby, a certain redhead watches them go. "So, Ron Andy is going to be at a Duel Monsters Tournament watching Linka huh?" Chandler rubs her chin for a moment, before snapping her fingers, "I know just how to embarrass her!" She quickly pulls out her phone and dials a familiar number, "Daddy..."

 _ **Later…**_

"No!" Lynn Sr. shouts, "And that's final!"

"But dad..." Linka tries to counter... only for her father to continue.

"Duel Monsters using the ARC System are extremely dangerous, and you wanna play a tournament with them?!" His voice fills with a fatherly rage, "No! You just got two black eyes two weeks ago! I don't wanna see my daughter hurt anymore!"

"Now honey." Rita speaks up, "Linka's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle a little scratches from playing a card game."

Lynn Sr. looks at his wife, the woman stares at him with slightly annoyed eyes.

"I know you wanna protect her, but you gotta remember, she can take care of herself." Rita places her hands on her hips, "I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I'm not sure…" Lynn Sr. looks away.

" _I need a way to convince dad that I'll be safe."_ she quickly thinks, before snapping her fingers, "What if I can prove I'll be safe using the ARC System?"

"And how do you plan to do that?" Lynn Sr. turns to face at her.

"I duel one of the boys with it!" Linka shouts, her voice filling with excitement.

Lynn Sr. Nervously rubs the back of his head, "I'm not sure Linka, wouldn't that just..."

"I think it's a great idea." Rita smiles and turns to her husband, "Plus, it would be nice to see the kids put on a show for us!"

"Still… is the risk worth it?" His voice goes low, while his wife simply nods

"Please daddy?" Linka puts on the best set of begging eyes she can possibly muster. "I promise I'll be safe! I love using the ARC system!"

"Uhh..." he goes for a moment, before taking a deep breath and sighing, "Fine... I'll let you show me that you'll be safe using the ARC System." He takes another deep breath, "But if I think for even one second that you'll get hurt, I'll shut it down, got it?"

Linka nods, before throwing her arms around the man, "Thanks daddy."

"No problem sweetheart." He whispers, before looking up, "Loki! Front and center!"

"Yes sir!" the young man rushes down and stands before his father at perfect attention.

"I need you to show me just how dangerous one of your duels using the ARC system can be." He stares the young man in the eyes, "Is that clear?"

Loki responds with a strong voice, "Sir yes sir!"

"Good, now set up everything so that your mother and I will be able to watch." Lynn Sr. continues, and immediately the young boy stomps his feet, before running out into the backyard.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

Linka stands opposite Loki, with the ARC System exposed below them. The sun glows softly in the early afternoon light, while the glass of the projector gleams. The duo wordlessly raise their duel disks, readying themselves for the battle about to occur.

"So... Loki is dueling Linka?" Loni looks on in anticipation, while the rest of his brothers- as well as their parents- look on, each sporting looks filled with varying amounts of fear.

"Yep." Luke responds, "Let's see what happens."

"I hope nothing bad happens…" Lynn Sr. wears a fearful expression.

Yet, Rita places a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry Lynn, I'm sure our son and daughter will be fine. Her voice fills with nostalgia, "She's growin' up after all…"

"Yeah…"

 _ **"Augmented Reality Combat System Activated!"**_ GLaDOS declares, " _ **Generating Action Field: Crossover." And with that, the world around the two duelists gains a light blue hue while several box-like platforms form around them.**_

"Ready Loki?" Linka goes, determination filling her voice.

Loki simply nods.

"Ok then, my move!" Linka draws her first five cards and scans them for a moment, before pulling two and declaring, "With scale one Astrograph Sorcerer and Scale Eight Chronograph Sorcerer, I set the pendulum scale!" She slams the cards at opposing ends of her duel disk's hardlight board, causing the ARC System to produce two pillars of light at her sides. Immediately a starry, blue-clad magician wielding an energy rod and shield, as well as a starry, black-clad magician wielding an energy sword, rise in them.

"Next, by destroying them both, I can reset the pendulum scale with Stargazer Magician and Timegazer Magician!"

Immediately, the two magicians lose their starry hue, instead becoming more mundane versions of themselves. Then, the two magicians outstretch their arms, causing a one to appear under Stargazer and an eight to appear under Timegazer.

"Well, she sure has gotten better since the last time we played with her..." Lars whispers.

"Yeah... she really has..." Luke adds, turning to his father as he does so.

Lynn Sr. remains silent, eagerly watching the battle unfolding before him, while Rita cheers, "Go Linka! Put on a great show!"

"Will do mom!" Linka raises her arm, and immediately, a crystal secured by a metallic string appears above her, swinging in a pendulum fashion. "Swing Pendulum Of The Soul! Carve an Arc across the Aether! I pendulum summon!"

Immediately, the pendulum begins to swing faster and faster, until a light-pink portal opens up, and releases three lights. "I pendulum summon! Come forth, Astrograph Sorcerer! Chronograph Sorcerer!" And with that, the two magicians from before descend to the field.

Linka's voice gains a soft solemnity, "Appear now, dragon with beautiful and wondrous dichromatic eyes! Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" And with that, a massive red, dinosaur-like dragon appears. Linka doesn't hesitate to jump on its back as she finishes, "I set two cards and end my turn!" She takes a bow.

"Wow, awesome!" Rita shouts, "I have absolutely no idea what she just did!"

A look of horror begins to overtake Lynn Sr. "Be careful Linka!"

"I draw." Loki calmly declares. "Because you control a monster special summoned from the extra deck, I can summon Cipher Twin Raptor." A small dragon with purple armor and blue skin appears. "Then, because I control a cipher monster I can summon Cipher Wing." A small. Hexagonal device appears with hardlight wings next to the dragon. "I release my cipher wing to double Twin Raptor's level."

A harsh, commanding air overtakes the battlefield, with Loki standing calmly, while every Loud, besides Linka, watch on, anticipating what is to come

"Cipher Twin Raptor counts as two material for an Xyz summon." The small dragon glows with golden light, before a small, starry black hole forms above it. "I overlay my level eight Cipher Twin Raptor!" Loki's voice gains a strong solemnity to it as the light flies into the portal and a column of light bursts from from it. "Galaxy, shining in the darkness, embody the demonic spirit of revenge and become my servant! Come forth, rank eight, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher dragon!"

Immediately, a bipedal dragon with skin that glows as if it were made of light, and armor seemingly made from the countless knights that had attempted to slay it, descends to the field.

"Uhh, is Loki ok?" Leif nervously asks, turning to his father as he does so.

"Loki! Stand down!" Fear overtakes the man as he steps forward, though Rita grabs his arm, "Don't worry Lynn, she'll be fine, I know it!"

And so neither Loki, nor Linka stands down.

"Come at me bro!" Linka shouts, her voice filling with determination. "Show me what these Ciphers you always tell me about can do

Loki does not respond to the taunt, choosing instead to shove another card into his duel disk. "I play the spell, Rank-Up-Magic: Cipher Ascension. This allows me to rebuild the overlay network using my Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon."

The dragon glows with golden light, before flying into the portal once more, and another column of light bursts forth, "Galaxy shining in the darkness, release the forever unchanging light and become a beacon for the future!" Loki slaps the card on his duel disk, "Go Rank-Up Xyz Evolution! Come forth, rank nine, Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"

And immediately, a three-headed version of the first dragon emerges from the pillar of light; its hardlight wings are more cubic, and are filled with even more energy.

"Wow Loki, you're really fired up huh?!" Linka shouts, yet her elder brother simply responds by holding a stern expression, much to the young girl's dismay.

Immediately Leif straps his own duel disk on, as if preparing to duel as well.

Rita holds her breath, the air filling with both shock and anticipation.

"I use both of my monster's overlay units, this allows my to take control of two monsters you control." He points at Astrograph Sorcerer and Chronograph Sorcerer, "Cipher Super Projection!" Immediately, the dragon's hardlight wings emerge from their golden projectors, and fully expand, before a stream of light engulfs the two magicians, turning them into copies of itself.

The three dragons loom over Linka's own, all seemingly ready to attack.

"Turn it off now!" Lynn Sr. grabs Luke, "Linka's about to get hurt!"

"Lynn!" Rita shouts, "Calm down, I'm sure she's gonna be fine!"

Yet the man glares as Luke.

"Levi, turn it off!" Luke immediately turns around and runs under the nearby window, and the scientist responds by running into his room and frantically hitting the ARC System's controls.

"Attack! Ultimate Cipher Stream Of Annihilation!" Loki points at the young girl riding, who can only watch as the three dragons pull their nine heads back, and fire.

" _ **Intrusion Penalty, two-thousand life points!"**_ GLaDOS declares, before a young voice calls out, "I summon Raidraptor Tribute Lanius to send Raidraptor Mimicry Lanius to the graveyard, and well as use Twin Twister's cost to send Raidraptor Readiness to the graveyard!"

Leif steps onto the ARC System next to Linka; while two storms destroy the cards she had set the turn prior.

"Leif?! What are you doing?!" The girl shouts in confusion, while the boy continues, "I banish Raidraptor Readiness from my graveyard to negate all of the damage she would take this turn!"

Immediately, a translucent barrier appears in front of the girl, causing the dragons' attacks to deflect around her.

*Heh* *Heh* Loki pants, before shaking his head and looking around. "What's going on?"

"Kids! Living room, now!" Lynn Sr. commands, and immediately, the eleven children rush back into the home and take their places on the couch.

"So, care to explain what that act was, Loki?" he stares at his eldest son in contempt.

"I was following orders sir." He calmly answers, "I presented exactly what you should expect if Linka chooses to continue playing."

For a moment, Lynn Sr. hesitates, considering punishing Loki for his seemingly careless behavior. And yet, finds himself unable to. "Well Loki, your presentation has shown me just how dangerous this game is." He looks to his daughter, "I'm sorry Linka, but if getting attacked by three huge dragons is what I should expect to see from you playing this game, I'm sorry, but I can't let you keep playing…'

Rita holds onto Leon as she speaks up, "Lynn, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean Linka seemed to be having fun even though she was about to get blasted."

"Rita! Who could have fun when they're about to get blasted into next week?!" the family patriarch shouts, turning to his wife as he does so, "I mean seriously-"

"Dad!" Linka shouts, causing all eyes to fall on her, "I really like playing this game, and I really wanna enter that tournament on Saturday."

"I'm sorry Linka. But, I don't feel comfortable letting you risk yourself playing a children's card game…" The man looks away, "I'm sorry but…"

"Lynn, I think she can handle it." Rita speaks up again, now doing her best to keep Leon held in her hands, "From what I could see, she knew full well what to do, and if what I've seen from her lately is any indication, she is more than capable of handling a few cuts and bruises."

Random whispers begin to emanate from the group of boys, as they, too, begin to debate the idea of their only sister joining in on the game that could cause her so much harm.

"Please daddy?" She puts on her begging eyes once more, "I'll be as careful as can be!" Then she turns to the boys, "And since it's a tag team tourney, one of the boys can even be right there with me in case something happens! I love this game and don't wanna stop!"

All eyes fall upon the man. In response, the man looks at his only daughter and his wife. With a defeated sigh he goes, "Ok, I'll let you play Linka."

"Yay!" The girl shouts in joy.

"Under one condition." He continues.

"And that is?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

"So, what cards do you have in stock?" The young girl walks into the twins' room, followed by her ten brothers. "You know, that dad will let me use."

Leif walks over to his closet and begins to dig through his part of the collection of random cards, "Let's see… there has to be a deck you can use that doesn't involve uber-powerful cards that could blow a hole in the roof!"

"Don't worry Leif, take your time…" Linka sighs, _"Well… at least I'll be able to get that fragment… so what if things are going to be slightly harder?!"_ She then turns to her other brothers, "So, uhh, whatcha doin'?"

"Just lookin' through the deck dad won't let you use." Lexx responds, "Where the heck did you get a…" He reads the card, "Shining Hope Pendulum Dragon?"

The girl shrugs, "Not sure. All I know is it appeared in my deck one day." While she thinks, _"Yeah, appeared after I pulled off an anime-level deus ex machinae against Trevor."_

"Well, since dad won't let you use it, would you mind if I took it?" He shows off the card… only for Lars to appear and grab it, "Sorry Lexx, but I believe you don't have the skill required to play a card like this."

"Hey!" Lexx counters, "I saw it first! It's mine!" Before jumping at the Goth boy. And with that, the two begin to fight… which consists of Lexx throwing punches while Lars simply dodges.

" _I'd tell them to duel for it. But I'll probably need that dragon in case the next hunter decides to play card games on motorcycles again…"_ Linka turns back to Leif. _"But if dad won't let me use it…"_ She gulps, _"I hope everything works out._

"I found it! The perfect and safest deck you can run!" Leif's voice is filled with excitement as he pulls out a small stack of random cards.

Linka takes the pile in her hands and takes a deep breath, _"Here we go."_ She then turns to face her brothers once more, "So, uhh, who's going to be my tag partner? After all, it is a two on two battle…"

"I'll be your partner." Leif declares, pulling out his deck as he does so.

"What?! Why should you be the one to help Linka play?!" Lexx counters, letting go of the card as he does so.

Levi then speaks up, "Actually, I agree he should be her partner." He pulls out a small computer, "Remember, Leif uses Raidraptors, and because of their high defensive capabilities, I am certain no harm will befall her."

"So…" Linka rubs the back of head, "The only way dad will even remotely come close to allowing me to play is if I have a defensive wall next to me?"

"If none of us want to end up going to military school, yes." Levi tucks the device under his arm, "But of course, something like this is both yours and Loki's-" He turns… only to find his eldest brother was no longer standing where he once was.

"Uhh... where'd Loki go?" Luke looks at Loni in confusion.

"He said he wasn't feeling too well." Loni shrugs, "So uhh, he's gonna be in our room today."

 _"Strange..."_ Levi thinks _, "Usually when it comes to matters following Linka, he cannot get away... what's going on with him?"_

"So... I guess it's my choice then..." Linka shrugs, before turning to face Leif, "Sure Leif, you can be my partner."

"Awesome!" Leif jumps up and hugs his sister, "I won't disappoint!" Yet, the boy can help but think, _"And I promise, I won't let anything harm you. Dad told me to protect you at all costs!"_

Linka turns, carrying Leif, "Ok guys, let's practice! We're all entering, right?"

The boys nod, before partnering up and together, the siblings head outside.

 _ **A few days later…**_

"Well, back for round two I guess." Linka looks up. Ahead of her stands the Royal Woods Convention center. Just a week prior, it was filled with random anime and sci-fi fans. She takes a deep breath, _"And today, the third Macguffin fragment is waiting for me here."_

"Wow!" Loni shouts, "It looks like every duelist in the county is here!" he stands in awe of the random duelists, their duel disks primed for the event about to go on.

Luke smiles and adjusts his duel disk, "You guys ready?"

"You bet!" Lexx flashes his own.

"I can't wait to **stick** my Performage's-" Lane starts, only for Lynn to slap his back.

"It's not the time Lane." He coldly goes.

"Luke!" A voice calls out, before three girls and a young boy run over.

"Nyla! You came!" Luke cheerfully hugs his girl, "And here I thought you'd never come!"

Nyla smiles and gives him a soft kiss on the cheek, "Don't worry Luke, I wouldn't leave ya hangin'." She steps away and motions towards the other ex-hunters, "Plus, when Linka made the call that we might have been needed, I made sure we would be there for her."

Luke nods, "Got it."

A few feet away Linka stands deep in thought, _"Ok, so now I just need to figure out how to-"_

"Linka!" Claudia runs over and hugs her friend, "I'm glad you're all right!"

Linka smiles and hugs the overly affectionate girl back. "I'm glad you came too, but what about-"

"If you're looking for me, I'm right here." Ron Andy steps out of the mess of people surrounding the center.

The young girl immediately blushes, "Hi Ron Andy, I'm glad you came!"

The boy smiles, "A chance to see my girl play cards and kick random people's butts is something I wouldn't wanna miss."

"And I just tagged along cause Claudia was going." Cristopher adds as he too steps out of the crowd.

"Awesome." The girl whispers, before turning to Luke, "So, is everyone here?"

Luke quickly takes the head count and nods, "Yeah sis, everyone's here, we can head inside!"

"Great!" Linka goes, before turning around and stepping forward, with the brothers right behind her. "Then let's kick some duelist butt!"

"We'll be cheering for ya!" Rita cheers, followed by similar sentiments from the rest of the group

"And remember boys, watch out for your sister!" Lynn Sr. shouts, "Cause if ya don't, I'm sendin' ya to military school!"

"Understood sir." Loki calmly goes, before stepping in front of Linka and entering the venue alone.

"Uhh, ok guys." Loni goes, "Lets all go in nice and-"

"Last one in is the worst duelist!" Leif shouts, before running passed the young man… causing the rest of the group to follow, leaving Linka and Loni behind.

"Dangit." He whispers.

"Don't worry bro, they're your brothers." Linka places a soft hand on his back, "They're not used to you taking charge."

Loni smiles, "Ok Linka…"

"Oh and Linka." Rita goes, causing the girl to turn to her, "We'll be in the bleachers cheering you on! Good luck!"

"Thanks mom!"

And with that, they enter the convention center.

It takes them close to an hour to get completely registered and set up to play, but when they finish, young man dressed in a simple suit walks up to the main podium and greets, _**"Welcome duelists! Welcome to the Royal Woods Annual Duel Monster's tournament!"**_

The man then goes on about random details and sponsors for the event- things that most people don't care much for. After close to twenty minutes of giving random acknowledgements, he ends with, "And now, I present this year's prize! The annual trophy!"

He pulls back a large tarp, revealing a silver, sword-like device with a golden ring at its end.

" _That has to be it!"_ The girl glances down at her watch, its flashing confirming her suspicions, _"Ok Linka, you just need to win the fragment…"_

Suddenly, the 'trophy' begins to glow, and the world around Linka gains a soft blue hue, causing time around her to stop

" _What's going on?!"_ Linka thinks, as a voice calls out, "Hey there!"

Immediately, a light green projection of herself appears in front of her.

"Uhh… hi there." Linka nervously steps back.

"I saw you last week." The being continues, "By the looks of it, you're interested in me, aren't ya!"

Linka nods, "Y-yeah…"

The being steps closer to her seductively, before brushing Linka's cheek, "Normally, I don't bother with random people that show interest in me, after all, I am a trophy." She moves her hand down Linka's left arm, "But I noticed you have a Matter Key Watch, and sense two of my sisters with you."

"So?" Linka backs into the wall.

"So, it's pretty obvious you're lookin' for me too!" The being leans in closer to Linka, "And since you're pretty, I'll let you try to win me over."

"H-how?" The girl asks.

The being leans in close, and over to her ear, before whispering, "You gotta win me." Then, the being leaves a soft kiss on the girl's cheek, before disappearing, taking the bluish hue with her, causing time to start up again.

" _I guess… that's how the fragment wants me to complete its challenge."_ She takes a deep breath, _"You gotta do it Lincoln. Win this and you'll have three out of four fragments."_ The girl then walks over to her dueling partner, "You sure you wanna do this with me Leif?"

Leif nods, "Yeah, dad told me that it was my job to make sure you didn't get hurt too badly while playing."

"Just remember." Linka readies her duel disk as they step onto the stage for the first duel, "We're here to win. That means that I'm going to take some damage, ok?"

"Yeah…" Leif doesn't answer, _"I'll make sure she takes no damage."_

A few feet away, the ex-hunters pull out their Holo-gears.

"A beacon's been lit." Nyla whispers, before turning to the others, "You guys know what to do?"

"I'm not sure I feel comfortable fighting the others…" Alex whispers, while Aeif nods in agreement.

"Don't worry you two, you beat em, and we'll card em'. We have to help Linka, all right?" Nell secures her device to her wrist. "Plus, if you don't, you get turned back into a card.

"All right…" The twin hunters do the same. And with that, the four of them rush out of the convention center.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Another target secured." Lyle declares, while shoving a newly created metal card in her coat pocket.

" _ **Lyle, come in!"**_ Her device goes.

"Yeah command, what is it?" The hunter begins to type in the coordinates to her next dimension jump.

" _ **A beacon has been lit in dimension 63i'\\! You must report and turn it off! This is the second one triggered within four months!"**_

Lyle hesitates as she types in the dimensional designation, "Are you sure command? I was informed that this universe is off limits?"

" _ **Ignore previous orders. The last time a beacon was lit, we lost an artifact to an unknown party. Please, report there and secure the objective."**_

"Understood." She responds, "Is there anything specific I should prepare for?"

" _ **According to intel gathered, the artifact is the trophy in a Duel Monsters tournament. In order to guarantee the safe keeping of the artifact, you must enter the tournament and win it fair and square. Remember, do not seal any anomalies. You do not want to attract unwanted attention!"**_

"Understood, command." Lyle opens up a pink and white portal, "Class three hunter, Lyle Loud out." And with that, she steps through.

A few minutes later, she is standing in front of the convention center with a squad of class one hunters standing behind her.

"All of you, deal with anomalies, I don't need this universe falling apart while we're here." She commands, "I'll enter the tournament, is that understood?"

The hunters nod in agreement and disperse. _"Let's do this."_ Lyle thinks, before her Holo-Gear changes shape, gaining a hardlight card field in the shape of a straight sword. And with that she walks inside.

 _ **Later…**_

"Dangit." Lexx crosses his arms, "I can't believe we lost!"

"Well, if you had tried something other than swarming the field with defenseless birds, maybe we would've survived a Blazing Mirror Force." Levi responds.

"Hey, I didn't see you-" Lexx attempts to counter, only for Loni to cut him off, "Guys! Be quiet, Linka and Leif are in the semi-finals!"

" _ **Presenting the first round of the semi-finals! The winner will be allowed to move onto the finals!"**_ The announcer goes, before pointing at one corner of the battlefield, _**"In the red corner, we have to brother-sister team of Linka and Leif Loud!"**_

A spotlight shines in their direction, falling upon an uninjured Leif and Linka.

"Go Linka!" Rita shouts, "Make mom and dad proud!"

A worried expression overtakes the man sitting next to her, "Why do I feel like Linka's about to get really hurt?"

"Don't worry dad." Loni places his hand on his back, "I'm sure she'll be fine." Then he turns to his slightly older brother, "Isn't that right Loki?"

Loki glares at Loni and remains quiet. Loni responds by sitting down, shutting up and looking at the duel about to unfold.

" _ **And in the blue corner, we have Chandler, with her friend Jackson Magnus!"**_ And immediately, the light falls upon the red head, with a man probably twice her age standing next to her

" _Chandler's here?!"_ Linka thinks in surprise, before she hardens her stance, "Wow Chandler, I didn't know you liked this game." Linka quips, raising her duel disk as she does so.

"I've always loved this game." Chandler sarcastically declares, raising her own, "And when I beat you, I'll prove I'm not only prettier than you, but I'm a better… player than you too!"

Linka tilts her head in confusion, "Uhh, what are you talking about?"

"You know why!" She points at her, "I'll prove that I deserve Ron Andy more than you, right now!"

"Uhh…" Linka lets her arms go limp in confusion, "You are aware that Ron is willingly dating me right? Like, I doubt beating me in a duel will-"

"Oh, and I'm gonna make you regret wearing that blouse with that skirt today!" She puts on a sinister smile, "Because when I'm done with you, you're gonna be pee-ing yourself!

Suddenly, Linka steels herself, "Oh, it is on!"

Leif looks at the man opposing him and motions towards his sister, "Do you, uhh, know why they're fighting?"

The man shrugs, "Nope."

" _ **Duelists gathered in the battlefield's hall of fame!"**_ The announcer shouts, the convention center's air filling with excitement, " _ **Kicking the ground, dancing in the air, and running around the field with their monsters!"**_ He throws out his arms, _**"Behold! The next evolution of dueling, Action!"**_

And with that, the four competitors shout, "Duel!" The tagteams counters display, with each player at 8000 lifepoints and full hands of 5.

"Go get em Linka!" Ron Andy cheers, "That's my girl!"

Immediately, Lynn Sr. glares at the young boy, causing him to cower behind Claudia.

"I'll take the first turn!" Chandler shouts, her voice filling with determination _ **.**_ "Let's get that grin off your face shall we?"

Jackson takes a quick peak of Chandler's hand, "Do what we talked about."

Chandler nods, "Ok, I'll start off by activating the pendulums, Oafdragon Magician and Iris Magician!" She places the pendulum monsters at opposing ends of her duel disk, causing the ARC System to project two pillars of light, from which a strong sorcerer in a simple tunic and a sorceress in a bright red dress emerge. Their scales- two and eight appear under them.

"Good, next you must pendulum summon your monsters." Jackson goes, and chandler nods.

"Ok then, I pendulum summon!" Chandler declares, causing a small orb of light to form above her. It flies in a circular pattern for a few short moments, before three lights emerge from it. "I summon, White Wing Magician, Tune Magician, and Iris Magician!"

The three sorcerers descend to the field, the first wearing a blue dress with translucent highlights holding a green wand with a dragon on the tip, the second in a turquoise dress accompanied by an oversized, golden tuning fork sword and shield combo, and the third is a copy of the magician in the column of light, though now wielding a red blade.

"Good, now tutor out the next part you need." The man continues, "Remember, White Wing is the most annoying to get out."

"You are aware this is frustrating to watch, right?" Linka shouts, "I mean, seriously, does she not know what she's doing?" She crosses her arms.

"I'm learning!" Chandler counters, "I use Tune Magician's effect!" The turquoise magician with pink hair smacks her tuning fork, causing the golden device to resonate for a moment, causing another magician- this one clad in a green cloak surrounded by red ribbons to appear.

Linka motions towards Ron Andy, "Well, by the looks of it, Ron Andy isn't gonna be impressed by that.

"Next I use my level four Tune Magician and level four Iris Magician, and my level four Violet Poison Magician and my level four White Wing Magician to build, the Overlay Network!"

The first three magicians glow with purple light, while White Wing glows with green, before two starry vortexes open up and the four lights enter them. Two pillars of light burst forth, and from them come two blue-clad magicians, both holding a starry shield and a strange, side mounted blade on their arms. "Uhh… What was I supposed to do?"

Linka and Leif chuckle, while Jackson facepalms, "Now, you have use their effects. You already forgot the summoning chant."

"Don't patronize me!" Chandler spits out, "I use my two Startime Magician's effects! This will allow me to add Astrograph Sorcerer and Black Fang Magician to my hand!"

"At least she got that right." Jackson mutters, giving an eye roll as he does so.

"Now, I tribute my two monsters, to summon Astrograph Sorcerer!" Chandler's voice fills with a soft rage, "I practiced this next play countless times Linka, and I've prepared it just for you!"

"Really?" Linka raises an eyebrow, "From what I just saw, I have to say that's a lie."

"I don't care if you'll believe it or not, I will make you pay for taking Ron Andy from me!" She points at her, "You stole him!"

"I didn't-" Linka starts, only for Chandler to cut her off.

"I banish, Iris Magician, White Wing Magician, Violet Poison Magician and Black Fang Magician, as well as Astrograph Sorcerer!" Chandler's voice fills with a desperate strength, "Go, integration summon! Oh ultimate dragon that supervises the four heavenly dragons and rules over the fifth dimension, Descend now and destroy she that had wronged me!"

Immediately the starry blue sorcerer raises his energy staff, causing a ball of rainbow energy to form above him. From the orb, a massive black cloud burst forth, "I summon, Supreme Dragon King Zarc!"

Two massive wings emerge from the cloud, before a massive, black dragon with green lines of energy.

A few feet away Lynn Sr. looks on in horror, "I… I don't know what to think. I-"

"No." Rita grabs his hand, "You're not gonna interfere, she'll be able to handle herself.

The brothers and Linka's friends watch in anticipation for the next move.

"With this, Linka, I'll defeat you, embarrass you and will Ron Andy back!" Chandler points at Linka, "I attack!"

"You can't attack first turn." Jackson pinches the bridge of his nose, "Just like it was a bad idea to dump your whole hand first turn as well."

"Fine." Chandler grimaces, "Fine. I end my turn." Chandler's counter appears with that: **LP: 8000, Hand: 0.**

"I-" Linka starts... only for Leif to cut her off with, "I draw."

 _"Dangit Leif."_ Linka thinks, before shaking her head, _"He'll be fine."_ Instead, she holds her look of determination

Leif eyeballs his hand and frowns, " _Dangit, lots of traps, tribute and a rank-up..."_ he glances at his sister, her face radiating with determination _, "I can't let her get hurt. Even if I take that thing down, what's stopping this Jackson guy from hurting her? I have no choice."_

He takes a deep breath and declares, "I summon Raidraptor Tribute Lanius!" And immediately, a blue metal bird with eagle-like wings flies onto the field.

 _"Awesome, he'll be able to set up a defense first turn!"_ Linka joyfully thinks.

"Once per turn, Tribute Lanius allows me to send a Raidraptor from my deck to the graveyard, and I choose Mimicry Lanius!" Immediately, tribute Lanius looks up, and Leif sends the card to the graveyard.

"Next, by banishing Mimicry Lanius, I can add one Raidraptor card from my deck to my hand!" Leif begins tapping his duel disk to select the card.

 _"Awesome he just has to add Fuzzy and he'll be good for the long game!"_ Linka excitedly thinks.

"I add Raidraptor Readiness to my hand!" Leif declares, "And I'll set three cards and end my turn!" He holds his breath and releases, _"We may have been able to avoid damage this whole tourney, but I doubt I'll be able to protect her against these guys without a workable hand…_

 _"Dangit Leif, what are you doing?!"_ Linka watches in surprise, before Jackson begins his turn.

"I play Ancient Gear Hunting Hound." He places the card down, causing a small, green metal dog made of to appear. "Once per turn, I can burn my opponents for 600 points of damage!"

The mechanical hound lets loose a massive bark, sending a shockwave at its two opponents.

"Trap card activate!" Leif shouts, "I use Pikeru's Circle of Enchantment to negate all damage Linka would take!"

A magic circle appears under Linka's feet, before a light barrier rises, protecting her from the shockwave.

"Leif?! What are you doing?!" Linka turns and watches as Leif is forced back by the attack. "It's only 600 damage!

"I'm protecting you!" He stands up. A small bar appears in front of him, displaying: **LP: 7400, Hand: 1.**

"But, no one runs that card! You're not helping your deck by-" Linka's voice fills with annoyance, _"What the heck is he doing?!"_

Yet before she can finish, Jackson speaks up, "I use the effect of my Hunting Hound." He raises his hand, "I can fusion summon using it!" he then plays another card, "I fuse my Ancient Gear Hunting Hound with my Ancient Gear soldier!" A stone warrior appears next to the metal dog, before both float up and come together in a swirling vortex, "Mechanical soldier and mechanical dog, bearing the souls of old, form an alliance and become a new power! I fusion summon, level eight, mechanical being of malevolence, Ancient Gear howitzer!"

Immediately, a mechanical, bird-like creature emerges. Its wings are rounded, with cannons spread out like feathers, "Once per turn I can burn my opponents for 1000 lifepoints!" Jackson points once more, "Go my howitzer!"

Leif counters, "Because of my magical circle, Linka takes no damage!"

"But you do!" Jackson retorts, and immediately, the robotic bird flies up, and releases a barrage of cannon fire causing Leif's lifepoints to fall further.

When the smoke clears, Leif is on the floor, covered in dust.

"Leif!" Linka shouts, her voice filled with worthy. Yet, Leif simply forces himself up.

"Don't worry Linka, I'm fine." He assures, as the counter appears once more, now displaying his lifepoints at **6400**.

" _I can't let this duel go on too long!"_ Linka desperately thinks, _"He's actually getting hurt here!"_

Yet, her brother thinks, _"I'm doin' exactly what I have to. No matter what happens, I won't let her get hurt!"_

"I end my turn by setting two cards face down." Jackson declares, his counter displays: **LP: 8000, Hand: 2.**

" _Let's do this."_ Linka thinks, _"From what I know, this should be a piece of cake."_ Before she pulls her first card with, "I draw!" She quickly eyeballs her hand, "And I'll start by summoning Madolche Mewfeuille!" A cute pink cat, sitting on a jigsaw puzzle made of cake appears, "And when I summon her, I can summon, Madolche Anjelly!" A young, angelic girl standing upon a jigsaw puzzle made of jelly appears.

"Suddenly, I'm starting to get hungry." Luke declares, before continuing to watch the game.

"Next I'll play the field spell, Madolche Chateau!" She shoves the card in the receiver, causing the field around them to change into one made entirely out of sweets, with gingerbread houses cake buildings and chocolate rivers! _"By the end of this, I'm going to need a whole lot of chocolate."_

After staring at the food in awe for a second, Linka shakes her head, "Next, I use Anjelly's effect! By tributing her, I can summon Madolche Hootcake from my deck!"

"Seriously?! How much… delicious… food can you make?!" Jackson looks on in awe, while Chandler simply drools.

"Way more than you can." Linka smiles, before glancing at her mother, "After all, I cook all of my family's meals with my mom!"

A small bird dressed in a suit and tie and standing on a jigsaw puzzle piece made of chocolate drops appears, "And by banishing one monster in my graveyard, I can summon Madolche Messengelato!" Another young girl appears, this one dressed as a mailman as well as standing on a jigsaw made of cookies. "And when she's summoned, I can add a Madolche spell to my hand! And I choose Ticket!"

Her deck spits out the card, and she doesn't hesitate to play it. "I overlay my level three Madolche Hootcake and Madolche Mewfeuille!" The two monsters glow with brown light before entering a portal, "Terror of the seas, emerge and guide the way home! I xyz summon, rank three! Leviair The Sea Dragon!" A green dragon with a fiery red head and yellow wings appears. "I use its effect! By detaching one overlay unit, I can summon my banished Anjelly! Rise once more!" The monster complies.

Chandler laughs, "Seriously? 1800 attack? Are you even trying Linka?" Then she motions towards the gelato mailman and jelly angel, "2100 and 1500 attack as well? You're not gonna get far like this!"

Yet, her opponent doesn't break, "I overlay my level four Madolche Anjelly and Madolche Messengelato!" Those two monsters glow with brown light, before entering a starry vortex, causing a pillar of light to bursts from its center, "Leader of those who make fools hunger, come down now and exact your creamy vengeance! I xyz summon, rank four, Madolche Queen Tiaramisu!" A queenly being appears, this time sitting on a throne made of gum, wearing a dress made of almond chocolate. Its jigsaw piece is made of gumdrops to boot.

The crowd's mouths water from the sight.

"It's official, if Linka wins, we're getting cake." Rita declares.

"Ugh, why'd Leif have to give her Madolches?!" Loni goes, though Loki remains stoic.

Levi quickly does a few calculations, "Well, given the current status of course sister, it's the only deck that doesn't involve crazy monsters." He rubs his chin, "But with 2700 total attack, that can hurt Zarc at all."

" _I can't deal with chandler right now, but if I can take out her partner, than Leif will be able to take out Zarc!"_ She glances at her tired brother, _"I hope he picks up the idea."_ Linka then points at Jackson, "I use Tiramisu's effect, by detaching one overlay unit, I can send two cards on the field back to the deck so long as I return cards from my graveyard to my hand or deck! I choose your facedowns!" She adds the only two monsters in her graveyard back to her hand, "And since Tiaramisu returns a card to my hand, I can use ticket to summon Messengelato from my deck!"

"Go Messengelato! Destroy Howiter!" The mailman complies and attacks, destroying the robot bird with its mailbag

"Upon its destruction, I can summon another ancient gear monster, and I choose Wyvern!" A small metal dragon appears, "And when it's summoned, I can add a spell or trap to my hand! I choose Rebirth!" He pulls the card from his deck.

Linka smiles, before jumping on her sea dragon's back, "Leviair! Destroy wyvern!" Linka commands, and the sea dragon complies by rushing forward and bathing the beast in pure fire.

"Please be safe Linka!" Lynn Sr. tenses up, though his wife holds onto his hand, reassuring him

"Now Tiramisu, attack his life points directly!" The queen blows a bubbly kiss at the man, causing his life points to drop to **5300.** "I end my turn." Linka's counter displays, **Lifepoints: 8000, Hand: 5**

"I draw!" Chandler declares, before pointing at Linka, "Zarc! Attack Linka now! Show that princess the true meaning of how I feel!" The massive dragon charges up his fire breath, before sending a stream of green light at Linka. The girl braces for impact, knowing it would not be enough to defeat her.

"Linka!" Lynn Sr. stands up in fear.

Yet, Leif speaks up anyway. "I play the trap Astral Barrier! This makes Zarc's attack a direct one, and it hits me instead!"

"Leif?! What are you doing?!" Linka shouts, as the green laser hits Leif instead, causing him be bathed in green light.

"I'm protecting you! I don't want you to get hurt!" Then he shouts, the attack's heat slightly singing his overalls, as well as causing his counter to display, **LP: 2400.**

"Leif! You're letting yourself get hurt too much!" She rushes over and helps her brother to his feet, "You've taken too much damage! One more and you might end up in a hospital!"

Leif looks at her with begging eyes, "I've been taught to always protect you, I won't let them hurt you."

Linka responds by gazing into his eyes, and seeing the confusion behind them, "Leif, I'm your big sister. I need to protect you just as much as you're trying to protect me. I know you can beat Jackson during your turn. Please, stop trying to defend me and attack!"

A wave of confusion overtakes the young boy. Since he could speak, his father had taught him that his sister was the most important thing he could take care of. He stands up, _"I took the Raidraptors because they can defend everyone… yet… the one person I'm supposed to protect wants me to let her get hurt?!"_

"Leif!" Linka shouts, bringing him back to reality.

"Huh?" He shakes his head, feeling his sister pull him into a soft hug.

"I love you Leif, you're my brother and I'll never let anything happen to you, now you have to fight!" She holds him tightly, allowing her heat to warm him up.

Leif steels his nerves, "Ok…"

Linka nods and walks back to her spot.

" _If she wants me to attack… I have to attack."_ For a moment, Leif can hear his father's words repeat, ordering him to defend Linka at all costs, and yet he can't bring himself to do so. "I draw!"

" _Come on Leif!"_ She thinks, "Do it!"

Leif eyeballs his hand, _"She wants me to defeat Jackson, then so be it."_ Then he reveals a card, "By burning myself for 400 lifepoints, I can summon Raidraptor Pain Lanius!" Leif's counter falls to **2000**. "And using these two I build the overlay network!" The two metal birds glow with purple light before flying into a new vortex, "Avian hunter of the afterlife! Seek the truth with your dark eyes, and grab the glory with your sharp talons! I Xyz Summon! Take flight, rank 4! Raidraptor Force Strix!" A small, metal bird with an owl-like head and wings appears, "I use one overlay unit, this allows me to add a Tribute Lanius to my hand! And I summon it!" The metal bird appears, "Next, I use its effect to send Fuzzy Lanius to the graveyard! This allows me to add another! And I summon it."

Leif raises his arm as a simple, triangular, purple bird appears on the field, "And I overlay these two." The two glow and enter a portal as well, "Oh Falcon of the Flame, raise your sword sharpened by rebellion and slay those that dare oppose you! Take flight, rank four, Blade Burner Falcon!" The bird is a triangular blue, with a burning sword attached to its underside.

" _That's the idea Leif!"_ Linka smiles.

"1000 attack? That's nothing!" Chandler chuckles and throws her head back."

"Blade Burner gains 3000 attack since my life points are 3000 less than both of yours." Leif coldly goes, _"But since I was protecting Linka… I could use it effect…"_

"Oh…" Jackson goes.

"Next I play Rank-Up-Magic Skip force, this allows me to rank up my Force Strix into a new monster!" Fire engulfs the avian hunter, "Fiercest falcon, set your wings ablaze and advance through the path of revolution! Go Rank-Up Xyz Evolution! Emerge, rank six! Raidraptor Revolution Falcon!" A new metal bird emerges, this one with simple wings and a smaller head.

"Now go my monsters, attack Jackson!" He points at the man, "Go, Burning Blade Air Raid!" And the two birds comply, sending the coach flying away in defeat.

" _I… I did it! I was able to defend Linka and defeat one of them!"_ Leif lowers his duel disk in exhaustion, "I end my turn." Leif's counter flashes once more, **LP: 2000, Hand: 0.**

"…Wow…" Linka whispers, before turning to Chandler, "Your coach is defeated, and you're next! Because your partner went down, his turn is skipped! I draw!"

"I tribute Madolche Messengelato to summon Madolche Puddingcess! Next, by detaching one overlay unit from my queen, I can send two cards away!" Linka points at the dragon, "I send away Zarc!"

Chandler looks on in terror as her dragon is returned from once it came.

"Then, Ticket activates, allowing me to summon another Messengelato!" The mailman reappears, "Now go my monsters!" She points at the red head, "Attack her directly."

"No!" Chandler shouts as Linka's monsters attack, causing her life points drop to zero. She falls to her knees in defeat, "I failed… dangit…"

"Chandler…" Linka walks over to her, "Ron Andy doesn't like you… beating me won't-"

"Yes it will!" She cuts him off.

"Your problem Chandler is that you went out and bought the most impressive 'looking' cards money could buy in an attempt to beat me. You never thought about strategy or tactics, just the look on my face when you sent dragons and demons at me. I'd even bet you've forgotten what half your cards do. You probably weren't even listening when your 'team mate' tried to tell you how to really use your deck!"

She could practically feel Jackson eyes roll behind his tinted shades as he stands up and walks away in silence.

Then she walks over and extends a hand toward the girl, "If you wanna impress Ron, you gotta work for it… and come around more often… and stop being a bully and stuff!"

Chandler grits her teeth and stands up. "Whatever." She turns, glares at Jackson before walking away.

Linka sighs, _"Only one more to go. And I don't think any hunters have come around yet."_

Leif sits down and thinks, _"I did it… but she didn't want it… I feel so… confused right now…"_

A few feet away, Lynn breathes in and out of a paper bag carefully.

"Now honey, Linka's all right." Rita rubs the man's back, "You can calm down now."

"I just… for a second I thought that that giant dragon was gonna hurt her!" He goes, eliciting an annoyed stare from his wife.

"So you don't care that Leif jumped in front and took it for her?"

"Well I…" He looks away.

"Just watch, we have some talking to do later.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Hunters handled!" Nyla lets a breath out as she shoves the newly created cards in her jacket pocket, "Now we just need to find their commander and we're done."

"Who's their commander?" Nell asks, her voice filling with fear and curiosity.

"Not sure." She responds, "But by the looks of it, these came from Lyle's guard." She picks up one of the cards and shoves it in her duel disk, causing the device to display the man's memories.

Most of it is typical, random adventures and missions he had gone on. Though, the feed runs out when Lyle appears.

"Yep, Lyle's around here…" Nyla goes, before turning around and walking towards the venue.

"Aren't we gonna try to find her?!" Aeif shouts, throwing her arms out as she does so.

Nyla shakes her head, "You won't find her, for now let's watch the duels, we'll tell the others when the time is right, ok?"

The ex-hunters begrudgingly agree, before all returning to the tournament, the next round almost ready to start.

 _ **Later…**_

" _ **Welcome to the final round! Lyle Loud vs. Leif and Linka Loud!"**_ The announcer goes in shock, _**"Amazing! Despite being at an extreme disadvantage, Lyle Loud has successfully won every duel!"**_

"Whoa, our next opponent is also named Loud?!" Leif goes in surprise, "I wonder if they're our cousin or something!"

Linka runs her hand through his hair, "Who know bro, who knows."

" _ **Without further ado, I present our finalists!"**_ A spotlight shines on both Linka and Leif, _**"Give up for Leif and Linka Loud! The brother-sister team that has taken this tournament by storm!**_ " Then, another spotlight falls upon a young, blonde-haired woman in a lavender shirt and blue jeans. _**"And Lyle Loud, the single-handed dueling star!"**_

"Nyla…" Luke turns to his girlfriend, "That's Lyle? The class three?"

Nyla and the other ex-hunters look on in fear, no doubt about it, that was her.

Luke gulps, _"I hope Link and Leif can beat her…"_

Just a few feet away, Rita pats Lynn Sr.'s back, "Are you ok honey?"

"Y-yes." The man nervously responds, "I'm just nervous that Linka's gonna get hurt!" He turns to her with begging eyes, "You saw that dragon! It almost blasted her!"

"Don't worry Lynn." She whispers, "Our daughter is growing up…"

"Yeah… she's growing up…" Lynn Sr. whispers, his eyes falling upon the white-haired girl that he had cared for, for all these years, _"She… she's so happy… she's… gotten passed what happened…"_

* * *

"This is a two on one! We'll be fine, right Leif?" Linka turns to her brother.

" _I… I have to fight… I can't just keep defending her…"_ Leif thinks, drowning out the world around him.

"Leif!" Linka shouts, breaking him from his trance.

"Huh?" He turns to his sister.

" _I have a feeling this isn't what it seems like."_ Linka puts on a smile, "We got this, right?"

Leif nods.

"We will duel under irregular tag duel rules." Lyle goes, "You will each have a turn before me. To compensate, I will go first. Is this all right with you two?"

Linka nods, "Yeah." She raises her duel disk, as does Leif.

Lyle smiles, before revealing her own duel disk, and checking the screen, _"It seems you're both anomalies too. What a shame."_

" _She's a hunter."_ Linka steels herself, _"That means she's probably after the beacon! I have to beat her!"_

" _ **Duelists gathered in the battlefield's hall of fame!"**_ The announcer shouts, the convention center's air filling with excitement with once more, " _ **Kicking the ground, dancing in the air, and running around the field with their monsters!"**_ He throws out his arms, _**"Behold! The next evolution of dueling, Action!"**_

"Duel!" The three competitors shout, before drawing their starting hand.

"I start by playing red resonator." Lyle's voice is a soft monotone.

Immediately, a small, fiendish-looking fiery machine appears. "And using its effect, I can summon Tuningware!" A small, orange warrior with a black pan-like hat and yellow scarf appears.

"And through its effect, I can treat Tuningware as a level two monster!" She points at the orange warrior, its level increasing as she declares; "I tune my level two Tuningware with my level two red resonator!" The fiendish machine hits its tuning fork and wand together, causing it to turn into two stars, which fly back and form two rings in which Tuningware enters. The rings turn it in two stars, before a pillar of light engulfs them both. "Guardian of those that protect their flock, come forth and drive my enemies to insanity! I Synchro Summon The King In Yellow, level four! Old Entity Hastorr!" And with that a small man wearing a yellow cloack appears, with a massive, dragon-like being standing behind it. "Because I used Tuningware for a Synchro summon, I draw one card." She does just that. "Then, I set three cards and end my turn with that." Her counter flashes, **LP: 8000, Hand: 1.**

"I-" Linka starts, only for Leif to cut her off with, "I draw!"

" _Dangit Leif! Not again!"_ Linka thinks, as she turns to her brother

He thinks for a moment, _"Linka doesn't wanna be protected… so I have no choice but to end this quickly."_ His voice is uncertain as he declares, "I summon Raidraptor Vanishing Lanius!" A green robot bird appears on the field, "His effect lets me summon Tribute Lanius!" The second bird appears on the field, "Next, by using Tribute Lanius' effect and banishing Mimicry Lanius, I can add Raidraptor Nest!" A small nest appears on the field, "Then, with it, I can add another Raidraptor! And I choose Fuzzy Lanius!" The purple bird appears on the field.

"I overlay my three metal birds!" They glow with purple light before entering a vortex, "Obscured Falcon, raise your claws sharpened by adversity and destroy those that dare oppose you! I Xyz summon, rank four, Raidraptor Rise Falcon!"

"Rise falcon... first turn..." Linka whispers, " _He's not thinking straight!"_ Before she shouts, "What are you doing Leif?!"

"I'm ending this quickly, for your sake!" He declares.

Linka grits her teeth, "Leif, you don't-"

"Go!" Leif cuts her off, "By using one overlay unit, Rise falcon gains attack equal to one of you monsters! I choose Hastorr!" Rise Falcon engulfs itself in flames, before charging at Hastorr.

Lyle remains silent as her monster is engulfed in rebellious flames and destroyed, causing Lyle's counter to display, **LP: 7900.**

 _"Good, her monster is destroy-"_ Leif thinks as the smoke clears, revealing Hastorr, now standing in Lyle's Spell and Trap Zone, holding up its rod.

"What?! I destroyed him!" Leif shouts, pointing at the man.

Luke simply smiles. "Yes you did, but upon his destruction, Hastorr equips to one of you monsters, negating its effects and preventing it from attacking!"

" _Dangit…"_ Leif grimaces, "I set one card and end my turn." His counter displays, **LP: 8000, Hand: 2.**

" _Leif doesn't understand how important this is…"_ Linka's thoughts begin to race, "My turn!" she draws, "And I'll start by summoning Madolche Mewfeuille!" The cat from before reappears, "This allows me to summon Madolche Butlerusk!" A butler standing on a simply decorated waffle jigsaw puzzle piece appears, "And when I summon it while Mewfeuille is on the field I can add Madolche chateau! And I play it!" The field from before reappears. ""Now go my monsters, Attack her directly!"

"I activate two defense draws! Nullifying the damage and allowing me to draw two cards!" Lyle's counter flashes once more, **LP: 7900, Hand 3.** _"These anomalies are a piece of cake."_

"I'll set two cards and end my turn." Linka begrudgingly goes, causing her counter to display, **LP: 8000, Hand 1.** _"Dangit."_

Lyle draws her next card, and smiles, "I'll start off by activating the spell, twin twisters! By discarding a Level Eater, I can destroy two spells and traps, I destroy those two!" She points at Linka's two facedown cards, destroying them both.

"Next, I normal summon Junk Warrior, this allows me to revive Tuningware!" An orange metal warrior appears, before raising its hand, causing the orange warrior to reappear. "I tune my level one Tuningware with my level three Junk Warrior!" The process repeats, "Entity of old, with powers beyond our understanding, descend now and engulf my enemies in your flames!"

A massive ball of fire emerges from the pillar of light, "Next, I use my set double hurricane to destroy Hastorr and your remaining facedown!" Twin hurricanes descend, destroying Hastorr and Leif's facedown, causing him to grimace. "When Hastorr is destroyed like this, I can take control of the monster it was equipped to! Come to me Rise Falcon!"

The metal bird flies to her side, while Linka and Leif are forced to watch, "Because of Tuningware, I draw one card." She smiles, "I play the spell, Fusion substitute! To combine Chthugha and Rise Falcon!" The two creatures rise up as she shouts, "Metal Bird of Prey, become one with the dark creature of fire and cement rule over the sea! I fusion summon, level four! Elder Entity Norden!" A man riding a water horse appears from the chaos. "Since Chthugha was use for a fusion summon, I can draw one card, and through Norden, revive it!"

She does just that, while Leif responds, "And because of Fuzzy, I can add another to my hand." He glances at his sister, _"I'm failing her… I'm not even coming close to making sure she has protection."_ He glances at his duel disk, _"But she destroyed readiness… I'll be able to protect her… even if I go down."_

"You two are pathetic." She laughs, "You each had a turn where I was defenseless and You did nothing to counter me!" Her voice fills with slight, as her duel disk begins to glow, "I believe it is time to show you my true power! I overlay my level four Elder Entity Norden and my level four Old Entity Chthugha to build the overlay network!" The water rider glows blue while the fiery beast glows red, before both fly up into the overlay vortex.

However, instead of a white pillar of light, the overlay network charges, before exploding like a supernova. "Messenger of Azzathoth and being of multiple faces, emerge from the chaos of reality and show my enemies your true form! I Xyz summon, rank four, the crawling chaos, Outer Entity Nyarla!" from the resulting portal, a strange being seemingly made from thousands of glued together tentacles, with thousands of mouths embedded in them, appears.

"Old Entity Chthugha's effect activates, allowing me to draw one more card!" Lyle's voice remains serious as she pulls her next card and smiles again.

"This isn't looking good!" Linka shouts, holding up her duel disk in defense, _"No problem, just because she's drawing like a madman and has a beatstick onboard, doesn't mean I won't be able to beat her."_ She steels herself, _"For my sisters, I have to win!"_

"Now, using Nyarla, I rebuild the overlay network." Lyle's voice fills with solemnity as the being a thousand faces returns to the vortex from which it came, and once more, the vortex explodes, though this time with black light. "Creature of darkness that watches upon the old world with your countless faces. Oh ruler of all beings above this world. Emerge from the whirlpool of chaos called reality, and unleash your power!" Lyle glares at the duo, "Go, Xyz Evolution! Arise, rank five, blind idiot god, Outer Entity Azzathoth!"

Shadows envelop the arena as a massive being emerges. Its body is secured to the vortex from which it came, with long, black, web-like strings. Its countless heads and faces glow with orange light, while its two hands loom over the battlefield.

"What is that thing?!" Leif looks on in shock, _"No matter what, I have to defeat it!"_

"Leif, remember, you don't have to defend me!" Linka shouts, "Trust me, I'll be fine!"

Leif doesn't respond.

* * *

A few feet away, Lynn Sr. holds his breath in fear, "This isn't looking good, "Linka!" He stands up, only for Rita to hold onto him.

"Lynn! Calm down! I'm sure she'll be fine!"

" _ **I've seen crazy monsters in my day, but that… thing is the craziest I've ever seen!"**_ The announcer declares.

"I use one Overlay unit!" Lyle declares, causing one of the purple orbs of light orbiting the creature to disappear, "This Azzathoth destroys all card you both control!" Azzathoth raises his hand and charges a ball of dark energy, engulfing the field in darkness.

"When a Madolche is destroyed, it returns to the deck!" Linka declares, only for Lyle to counter. "Azzathoth prevents effects from activating this turn!"

"Dangit." Linka whispers

Within moments, all is clear except for the multiple-headed beast. "Next I play instant fusion, allowing me to summon another Norden!" The rider appears and summons back Chthugha, "I overlay and draw again!" And with a repeat of the previous steps, she summons the second Azzathoth. "Now my two kings of the darkness, attack these fools directly!"

The two Azzathoths both charge up orbs of darkness and fire.

"I-" Leif starts.

"No! We have to take the damage! We don't know what's gonna happen next!"

Leif relents and moves his hand away from the duel disk's screen.

And with that, the attack makes contact, sending both children flying back, as their counters display, **LP: 5600.**

"I set two cards and end my turn." Lyle finishes, causing her counter to reappear. **LP: 6900, Hand: 1.**

"That's it I-" Lynn Sr. stands up again, only this time Rita pulls him down, "You're not going anywhere Lynn, our daughter is still smiling despite the attack!"

"What?!" He turns to his wife in surprise.

"Look!" She commands, and the man complies. Instead of the tear-filled and pained expression he expects her to have, she is smiling, determination filling her.

"She's… she's smiling…" He whispers in shock, while his wife simply nods, _"She's… she's not crying or in pain? She's… happy… She's… she's going on?!"_

* * *

"I draw…" Leif declares, his voice going low, _"I… I let her take damage… I…"_ He looks away shamefully, "I… I let dad down, I…"

"Leif, focus!" Linka shouts, breaking his thoughts, "You don't have to worry!"

Leif turns to her with tear-stained eyes, "What?"

"I might be able to do something next turn, but I need you to focus." Linka declares, a determined smile forming on her face.

"I… I failed! I let you take damage!"

Linka smiles, "Leif, you didn't fail me. I'm your big sister, I'm supposed to protect you!" she looks into his eyes, "I know that you mean well, and I know you want to defense me, but I'm here to win, and so are you. I knew I was gonna take damage here, and I accepted it." She steps over and places a hand on his shoulder, "Now, are you ready to put up a fight?"

" _She… she wanted to take damage?!"_ Leif nods, before turning back to face Lyle, "Ok Linka…" he takes a deep breath, "What can I do…" He snaps his fingers, "I play, Raidraptor sharp Lanius!" A red, insect-shaped bird appears, "I use its effect to move one Azzathoth to defense mode!"

"I activate solemn strike! By paying 1500 life points, I negate and destroy sharp Lanius!" Lyle triggers her trap, and immediately, an old man steps forward and strikes down Sharp Lanius. Lyle's counter immediately displays, **LP: 5400.**

"I activate Shield Eagle!" Leif plays the card, "When a Raidraptor is destroyed, I can summon him in defense mode!" Leif takes a deep breath, "I set one card facedown and end my turn." Leif's counter reappears, **LP: 5600, Hand: 1.** _"My sister… wants to protect me?"_ He glances at the determined visage of his sister, _"She… accepted damage for me?!"_

"I draw!" Linka declares without missing a beat, "And I summon Madolche Hootcake!" The bird from before reappears, "And I use his effect, by banishing Madolche Butlerusk, I can summon my Madolche Messengelato!" The mailman arrives, allowing Linka to add another Chateau to her hand, which she promptly plays, "And now, by overlaying Madolche Hootcake and Raidraptor Shield Eagle, I build the overlay network, to summon Leviair the sea dragon!" The same dragon from before appears, "And by using an overlay unit, I bring back my butler! And I overlay into queen tiramisu once more!" Linka points at the two Azzathoths, "I use Tiramisu's effect to return Messengelato and Mewfeuille to my hand and return those to the deck!" She takes a deep breath, "And by using tiramisu as material, I overlay again! Oh princess of sweets, come forth and show what your chocolate goodness can bring, go xyz evolution! I summon, rank five, Madolche Puddingcess, Chocolate-a-la-mode!" A new princess emerges, this one with a dress made of chocolate and her puzzle piece made of cake.

"Go my monsters! Attack her directly!" The two monsters attack, causing forcing Lyle back and causing her counter to display, **LP: 600.**

Linka lets out a deep breath, "I end my turn." Her counter displays, **LP: 5600, Hand 3.**

Lyle smiles, "Very well. I suppose I must show you what a true hunter can do. I draw!" She pulls her card and glances at it for a moment, "I activate the spell, Monster reborn! Allowing me to bring back Norden and Chthugha! I overlay into Azzathoth once more! Draw, And destroy your cards!"

The gust of wind forces the two kids down once more

"Next I activate a spell known as The Shining Trapezohedron! This allows me to summon Norden back and bring Chthugha back as well! Then, using Norden as two materials, I overlay! For a Nyarla!" A wicked grin forms on her face, "Oh entity of the flame and being with a thousand faces, come together in a whirlpool of chaos and give birth to the warrior that protects Dreamland! I contact fusion summon, Elder Entity N'tss!" A massive, golden-clad warrior appears on the field, its spear no doubt sharpened by battle.

"Finally, I normal summon a resonator and Tuningware and Synchro for another Old Entity Hastorr!"

"This doesn't look good sis!" Leif shouts, turning to her in fear.

"Well, no matter what happens, trust me, don't use Readiness until I say so." She looks at him and smiles, "Ok?"

He nods, and puts on a look of determination.

She points at Linka, "Now go Hastorr and Azzathoth! Attack Linka directly!"

Leif fights the urge to move his hand, but does so anyway.

"No!" Linka turns to him with begging eyes, "I can take it, trust me!"

Leif forces his hand back, allowing both attacks make contact, bringing Linka down to 900 Life points.

"To think, I'm defeating anomalies and having fun." She shrugs, "Now N'tss attack her directly!"

"Use it now!" Linka shouts, causing Leif to comply with, "I banish Raidraptor Readiness to negate all damage Linka would take this turn!"

A translucent barrier appears around the young girl, her clothes now covered in dust.

"Close call." She quips.

"Why'd you take all that damage?" Leif looks at her in shock.

"Simple bro." She responds, "If I didn't take all that damage, she would've attacked you and beaten you too."

"You… you took that damage to protect me?!" Leif shouts in shock.

"Yeah bro." She smiles at him, "I'm your big sis, it's my job to protect you."

Leif looks on in shock for a moment, before nodding and smiling."

"I'm not done yet!" Lyle shouts, "Reveal trap, Call Of The Haunted!" A deathly echo emanates from the card, "This allows me to bring back Norden and revive Hastorr!" She points at Leif, "I attack you directly!"

Leif braces himself, as the two monsters attack, bringing has life points down to 1300 as well.

"I set two cards and end my turn." Lyle grits her teeth, her counter displaying, **LP: 600, Hand: 1.**

"No hands on the field or in the graveyard sis…" Leif goes, "This isn't lookin' too good…"

"Then let's pull a miracle shall we?" Linka goes, determination begins to rush through her veins. _"To protect my homes, I will win! I'll win the fragment and defeat this hunter!"_

The next cards Leif and Linka draw glow with pure light, Leif draws, "I activate the spell, Rank-Up-Magic Zero Hour Strike! If I control no other cards and two players has less than 1500 Life points I can summon a monster double the rank of one in the graveyard!" He plays the card, causing Rise Falcon to reappear, before flying into the overlay vortex, "Oh dauntless falcon, ignite the flames of rage and engulf the earth in your light!" Satellite cannon falcon descends.

"I activate Waboku! No battle damage and monster destruction this turn!" Lyle counters.

"Go stellar cannon bombardment!" He shouts, "It'll destroy the other spells and traps you have!" He grits his teeth, "I set one card and end my turn as well." His counter displays, **LP: 1300, Hand 0.**

Then Linka, "I Draw!" She smiles. "Ready to win this Leif?"

Leif nods, "Yeah sis!"

"I activate Leif's set Call Of The Haunted to revive Butlerusk! Next I normal summon Madolche Anjelly! And I overlay for Queen Tiaramisu!" Linka takes a deep breath. The card she had just draw glows with golden light, "I play the spell, Rank-Up-Magic: Baker's surprise!"

"Rank-Up-Magic: Baker's Surprise? This reality doesn't have such a card!" Lyle steps back in shock.

"Now it does." She quickly responds, though the glowing card starts glitching out quite a bit.

The Puddingcess stands up, before glowing and entering the overlay vortex, which explodes like a supernova. "Oh creator of sweets, come forth and show us what true craftsmanship is! Come forth, true ruler of the Madolche! The pastry chef supreme! Rank six, Madolche Patissempress: Vanellope Von Swcheetze!"

Immediately, a young woman dressed in an overly pink, queenly dress appears, she wears green peppermint colored leggings and has candy in her hair. She stands upon the completed jigsaw puzzle as well as holds a tray filled with more! No doubt someone is gonna be hungry later.

Linka points at Lyle, "Upon summon, Vanellope returns all monsters on the field and in both graveyards to the deck!"

Lyle watches in horror as her entities leave the field, "No matter, when she leaves the field, N'tss-"

"Pastriempress can't be destroyed!" Linka points at Lyle. The Hunter can only step back in fear as Linka looks at Leif, "Together?"

Leif nods, "Together!"

They both point at Lyle, "Go Madolche Pastriempress! Attack with, sweet baker's surprise!" The Pastry Empress throws the sweet tray of pastries at their opponent.

"I-" Lyle moves her hand over to her duel disk, desperate to get control of the situation.

"When she attacks, you can't use card effects! And she gains attack equal to your current life points!" The duo both shouts.

"Dangit." And with that, the attack makes contact, forcing Lyle's life points to zero, as well as sending her back.

"Good game." Linka drops her arm, in exhaustion. "We win."

"Linka!" Leif runs over to his sister and hugs her, "Are you ok?!"

Linka dusts herself off, before returning the hug, "Yeah, slightly injured, but overall I'm just fine." She whispers in his ear, "Thanks to you."

"This isn't the last you'll see of me." Lyle stands up, before talking into her duel disk, "All units stand down and return to base."

No response. "Figures, they probably left when they had the chance."

"Linka, that was awesome!" Nyla and the disavowed hunters rush over.

"I see." Lyle goes, "So this is where they went." She looks away, "Mission objective failed, returning to base."

"Wait, why don't you…" Linka reaches out for her. But before she can catch up, Lyle disappears. "…stay with us…"

Nell puts a soft hand on the young girl's shoulder, causing the girl to sigh. _"Well, at least Leif didn't see anything."_ She glances at the boy still hugging her, with his eyes shut.

" _ **Congratulations to our winners! Leif and Linka Loud!"**_

The announcer then steps down from his post and presents the trophy.

Linka immediately hoists Leif on her shoulders, while he holds their trophy. For once, Leif sees Linka, not as the girl he has to protect, but as his big sister.

And a few feet away though, their parents simply look on in shock.

"She's… our daughter's growing up…" Lynn Sr. Whispers.

"It's for the best." Rita responds. "It's for the best."

After some more congratulations, (And the beacon turning off) the Loud family returns home, no doubt to prepare for their next adventure.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Ugh." Lori groans as she steps out of her little brother's bedroom. The visible bags under her eyes breathe of her exhaustion.

"Yo sis, you don't look too good." Luna walks over to her, "Maybe I should-"

"No." The young woman responds, "Me not spending enough time with him before caused this…"

"No it didn't." Luna goes, crossing her arms as she does so.

"Yes it did!" Lori counters, "If I had spent more time with him before he started acting like he is, he wouldn't have gotten hurt! I probably would've been there when he… fell down the stairs."

Luna shakes her head, "Sis, you know you couldn't have stopped it, even if you were there."

And with that, they hug.

A few feet away however, Lisa fiddles with a new device, her soft brown eyes moving around it as quickly as they can, "I hope this will be able to fix things…"

20-8-5 6-9-14-1-12 8-21-14-20-5-18 9-19 19-20-9-12-12 1-18-15-21-14-4.

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! I really loved writing this, though I'm a bit unsure given how abrupt the ending feels. I thank everyone who helped me write this! And yes, I made up a few cards.**

 **And if you didn't enjoy this, don't worry, the next story involves Rita Loud!**

 **Also, I've posted a new story called, "Finding A Loud". Why don't you check it out?!**


	24. The Loud Girls

**A/N Hey guys, I'm back again and this time with a shorter story than usual! Mainly cause I was so busy yesterday I just had no time to write more. I hope you enjoy! Now, I'm going get some rest. I stayed up till 3 AM to get this done.**

 **R &R**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Some Rita and Linka bonding time on April Fool's day. "**_ _ **A focus chapter on Rita. Maybe a fun mother daughter day after feeling a little guilty in butting into the 'boys fun' with the trip and either giving them run of the house, or letting them go somewhere on their own." (Requested by Wolvenstrom).**_

Story Twenty-Four: The Loud Girls

Nightfall descends over the town of Royal Woods, just as it has done countless times before, and yet, the home of the Loud Family remains as lively as ever, with all thirteen of its members eagerly eating dinner.

"This is delicious Linka and mom!" Loni declares, before stuffing his mouth full of the gelato they had made.

"Yeah!" Luke does the same, "Where'd you get the recipe?!"

Linka smiles, "Well, after that card game last week, mom and I noticed how antsy you became around sweets." She looks at her smiling mother, pride filling her expression, "So we went online, and found whatever we could."

Her mother continues, "We're glad you like it, it took us all afternoon to get everything set."

"I love it honey." Lynn Sr. gives a fatherly smile, before looking over his sons. From what he can see, all ten of them are eating to some degree… besides Loki and Lane. "You ok Loki?"

" _Lincoln… made cake for us…"_ he stares at the sweet treat resting on his plate, _"And the others are liking it too… He hasn't done anything to it…"_

"Loki." Lynn Sr. stares at his eldest son, "Is everything all right soldier?"

Immediately, Loki snaps to his senses and shakes his head, "Yes sir, everything's all right."

"I ask because you haven't taken a bite of the cake your mother and sister made." He continues, his voice gaining a fatherly command.

The young man doesn't need any more hinting beside that. Wordlessly, he nods, before scooping a small slice of the cake and shoving it in his mouth. Immediately, the sweet taste of the cream and chocolate attack his senses. Before he knows it, he's downing the cake just like the rest of his brothers.

"Haha! I didn't know you'd like our cake that much Loki!" Rita laughs, while the other brothers chuckle in agreement.

" _Maybe he's finally getting passed whatever Linka told him…"_ Linka smiles at the thought.

A few seconds pass, before Loki drops his fork on his plate and sits back.

"So, what'd you think Loki?" Linka cheerfully asks, though she can already tell what his answer would be.

Loki looks at his only sister and gives a pained smile, though given how little he smiles no one can really tell, "It was great sis. You and mom did a great job." While he thinks, _"Why… why is she so… lovable?"_

"Awesome." Linka smiles, before giving a tired *yawn*, "Anyways, I'm gonna go to bed now, I'm tired." She grabs her plate and stands up, "Goodnight guys."

"Goodnight Linka." Her family members respond, before the young, white-haired girl walks out of the dining room, leaves her plate behind in the kitchen and heads up to her room.

With his only daughter off to bed, Lynn Sr. sighs. "Ok boys, now that your sister is gone, we have to talk."

"What's the matter, dear?" Rita tilts her head in curiosity.

"Tomorrow is April first." He glances at Lane, from the looks of it, the young man is already holding in his building urge to start the prank war. "As such, you guys know what has to happen."

"Of course, evacuate Linka for the day, while we fight Lane's pranks." Loni speaks up, while Loki remains silent.

"Correct Loni." Lynn Sr. rubs the back of his head, "Well guys, there's been a complication…"

The family turns to their patriarch, in curiosity.

"You see…" He looks away, "I've called everyone and well… everyone's busy. No one can take Linka tomorrow!"

"What about Shirley?" Luke goes, obvious disgust in his voice, "I mean, it wouldn't be a pleasant stay but-"

"She's busy." Lynn Sr. responds, "Plus, Linka hates going there anyway, and I wouldn't want to force her to go to a place I know everyone would hate."

Lynn Jr. then speaks up, "What about Claudia?"

"I called her parents, she's apparently busy because Spring break is coming up, and something about a boy she's been seeing."

Rita rubs her chin for a moment, "How about Ron Andy?"

"Despite what I saw at that Duel Monsters tournament last Sunday, I still don't feel comfortable leaving Linka alone with Ron Andy." Lynn Sr.'s voice gains a defeated weakness to it, "After all, she's still just a kid!"

"Dangit… what are we gonna do then." Lane whispers, holding his hands and staring at the cake as he does so, "I mean…I have to let loose somehow or else…"

Luke puts a comforting hand on his younger brother's back, "Don't worry, we won't have another accident like the last time you weren't allowed to release your pent-up pranking problem."

*Beep* *Beep* Their mother's phone goes off, causing the woman to stand up and answer it. "It's the job." She reads, before answering it, "Hello?"

* * *

Linka walks into her room and throws herself on the bed, "Boy am I tired." She smiles, "Well, at least I'm havin' some fun with my brothers and got three fragments!" She chuckles, "Three down, one to go."

"Yes, that is correct." The old man appears at her bedside, "Four chapters again huh? I suppose this isn't too bad a development."

"Oh, hey Bill." Linka sits up in her bed, "What's up?"

"Congrats on winning the tournament, you really earned the fragment of Matter." He tilts his hat towards her.

"Uh-huh." She nods, "So, uhh… are you here to give me the last hint or something?"

He nods, "Of course Lincoln, the last fragment is the most straightforward. No tricks, no mess. It has chosen not only to hide in plain sight, but as the most valuable thing in Royal Woods."

"Ok… and what would that be?" Linka tilts her head as she comes to her feet.

"Now Lincoln, you know by now that I have chosen not to make things easy for you." He chuckles.

"Well hey, it was worth a shot." She shrugs in response.

"Of course, and you are aware of what tomorrow is, right?" He continues.

Linka thinks for a moment, "April first?"

He nods, "Yes, be careful tomorrow. I am well aware of what happens on that day."

The girl shrugs, "Well, so far I've seen alternate realities, other versions of myself 'doin' it' with both my brothers and sisters, as well as other things. I highly doubt that anything will surprise me tomorrow."

"Of course." William smiles, "It's not like a Lisa is gonna open a portal, push a dying version of yourself through, while kidnapping you, leaving you to replace them."

"Well." Linka almost chuckles, "I wouldn't be surprised really. I mean, I have been replacing Linka for the past… almost six months at this point."

"Anyways, good luck, and soon your journey will be over." William tilts his hat once more, before disappearing as abruptly as he came.

"That guy still annoys me." Linka lies back down and nods off for the night.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Under the cover of darkness, a young woman dressed in a black cloak runs. Her blonde hair is covered by a hood, while her dark clothing hides the lavender shirt and blue jeans she wears.

" _ **Lyle, what's the status of your current mission?"**_ A masculine voice goes, much to the young woman's dismay.

"So far, so good command." She responds, "I have been able to monitor the class three anomaly present in this universe."

" _ **What about the beacon? What is the status of what called that?"**_ The man's voice fills with eagerness.

"The beacon was triggered by an artifact."The young woman runs over to a nearby wall and looks into her Holo-Gear, "Said artifact was lost to the class three anomaly. I was unable to counter my defeat without attracting unwanted attention, so I was forced to retreat for the time being."

" _ **I see… How about your class two and one guards? What is their status?"**_

"Unknown. I believe that the rouge class two hunters present in this universe sealed them in cards before I was able to fight the anomalies." Lyle then reads the device's screen, which displays a map of Royal Woods with a large amount of red dots in the home just over that wall, _"Dimensional-time anomalies huh? If there is another artifact present, no doubt it would be here."_

" _ **What are you currently doing? What is your mission directive?"**_

"I have located a cluster of anomalies at my current location and have decided to investigate." She grits her teeth, "Hopefully, I will find another artifact here."

" _ **And what about the class three anomaly that defeated you?"**_

"Once I retrieve the artifacts present in this dimension, I will make sure confront them." Lyle goes.

" _ **Understood. Good luck Lyle."**_ The man finishes, before the line goes dead.

Lyle quickly runs onto the nearby property- the only mansion in the town of Royal Woods. _**"Warning! A large of amount of anomalies are present! Proceed with extreme caution!"**_ Her Holo-Gear goes off, _"Well then, it looks like I'm getting close to the last reported location of the final artifact."_ She glances over the wall for a moment, only to find a butler watering a nearby garden.

She watches him for a moment, waiting for him to walk away, yet as she watches him, it becomes obvious that he isn't gonna move, _"Huh, he's stuck in a time loop. Poor bastard."_

She quickly hops the fence and runs on the front lawn for a moment, before coming up on the side of the building. She silently leans up against the wall, allowing a few nearby guards to walk passed, before she jumps to a nearby ledge and moves herself over slowly, finally stopping in front of a small library with a small, ring-like device with two purple crystals attached resting in a small glass container.

" _ **Warning, time anomalies present! Proceed with caution!"**_ Lyle smiles, "Jackpot." She hits her communicator again, "Command, artifact located, will move to acquire ASAP."

" _ **Remember, avoid confrontation if possible."**_

Lyle nods, "Location noted." She places a small device at its base, "Artifact location saved. Preparing to-"

"Hey! You there!" A voice calls out, "What are you doing?!"

"Dangit." She whispers, before jumping from the ledge and hopping the nearby wall, leaving nothing behind except for the device.

"What the…" is all the guard can say in response, as the young woman runs out of sight.

* * *

"Ok boys, you know what tomorrow is, correct?" Lynn Sr. crosses his arms, while his sons sit on the couch in front of him.

"Tomorrow's April first." Loni speaks up, worry filling his voice.

"And you know what that means, correct?" Rita continues, maintaining its motherly softness.

The boys knowingly nod, before Luke speaks up, glancing at Lane as he does so, "That means tomorrow's the day Lane loses control and starts a prank war to blow off steam."

Lane frowns and nods.

"Well, I have good news and bad news." Rita continues, "Bad news is, we couldn't find anyone to take Linka for the day."

"What?!" Lane shouts, standing up as he does so, "You know how I get tomorrow!" He flails his arms up, "Yeah, I'll prank everyone in the house and even fight with pies!" He looks away, "But I'd never forgive myself if I hurt Linka!" while he thinks, _"After all… I still haven't forgiven myself for letting her get hurt that day…"_

"We know." Lynn Sr. goes, a fatherly air forming around him, "And if any cream or powder hits Linka, I will ground you for life! Anyway, the good news is, take your daughter to work day at your mother's office has been moved up to tomorrow so that the boss could go on spring break with his daughter longer."

"Awesome!" Lane and the boys breathe a sigh of relief.

"That means there's some more bad news." Rita continues, looking at Lane as she does so, "You're gonna need to…"

 _ **The next day…**_

"Good morning Linka!" Rita calmly walks into the young girl's room, causing her to stir from her slumber.

"Huh?" Linka looks at the woman, "Oh, good morning mom." Before looking at her bedside clock, "Eight AM?" She looks back at her mother, "Why'd you wake me up so early mom?"

"Cause today's 'Take Your Daughter To Work' day!" She smiles, "And last time I checked, you're my daughter!"

Linka's eyes go wide in surprise, "Really?!"

Rita nods, "Yeah, why don't you go get ready, while I make breakfast?"

"You don't want me to cook with you?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

"While I normally would, we don't wanna be late now, do we." The woman chuckles, before standing up and walking out of her daughter's room.

*Yawn* "Good morning Loud House." Linka stretches, before turning and getting out of her bed, _"Well, it's April first."_ She takes a deep breath, before grabbing hold of her doorknob, _"If Lane's anything like Luan, today's gonna be a bad day…"_ She opens the door… only to find her home uncharacteristically quiet, with her brothers standing by her door.

"Uhh… guys?" She tilts her head in confusion, "You ok?"

"Course!" Loni goes, a pained smile appearing on his face, "We're just here to help you get ready!"

"Huh… ok then…" Leif of all people shoves a towel, a loofa and some soap in her arms with, "You'll need these!"

Lexx then walks into her room, "And I'll get your clothes ready! You like the tangerine blouse right?"

"I-" She starts, only for Lars to push her into the bathroom, "Are you guys ok? You seem really eager to get me out of here." She looks at her brothers in confusion, "And where're the others?"

"They're-" Loni starts, only for a small hand to cover his mouth.

"They're still sleeping!" Leif shouts, covering Loni's mouth as he does so, "Go get ready, we wanna make sure our sister has a great time at the office today!"

Linka looks at them in suspicion for a moment, before shrugging, "Ok then…" And with that, she takes a quick shower. After that, her brothers push her into her room to get ready, making sure to close the door behind her.

"Huh… those guys must really be worried about Lane today…" The girl quickly puts on her clothes, and steps out of her room… only for her brothers to grab her and take her down to the family van- their mother waiting inside.

"Wait, but breakfast!" Linka shouts… only for a hardboiled egg and salt shaker to be shoved into her hands. "This works!" And with that, she gets in the car, and the two girls in the family drive off.

Loni pulls out a small radio, "Ok guys, Linka's clear."

"Good." Luke goes on the other line.

Then, from Levi's bunker, their father continues, "Loni? Where's Loki?!"

"He said he wasn't feelin' well so he shoved this in my hands and said I was in charge of the war…"

Their father remains silent for a moment, before sighing, "Fine, we'll have to deal with it. Luke, you know what to do."

The young man nods, before turning to Lane. In order to prevent him from starting the prank war before Linka was clear of the house, the boys had locked him in a cage, with Luke watching him carefully.

"Here we go." He whispers, before turning the cage's unlock timer to one minute, quickly donning his battle gear, and running out of the room. The other brothers do the same, before meeting in the backyard.

The clock counter reaches ten seconds. The air around the home begins to fill with an uncertain anticipation.

Luke quickly checks his brothers, now all of them are wearing sets of makeshift armor over their typical clothing, no doubt to protect themselves from whatever Lane could throw at them.

The five brothers pull out their weapons- a random assortment of tools such as streamers, confetti guns, rubber chickens and leftover lemon-ades in case of emergency, Lynn has a baseball bat just in case.

"Ok, we're ready." He checks his watch. "On."

"Two." Lars and Lynn go, their voices filling with fear.

"Uhh…" Loni goes, probably forgetting what number comes next.

"Three." Leif holds his duel disk up in anticipation while fear fills Lexx's eyes.

"Four!" The family shouts in unison.

"I declare a prank war!" Lane bursts through his room's window holding an oversized pie cannon, and pulls the trigger, sending a rain of pies at his brothers.

 _ **Later…**_

"Wow!" Linka goes in awe as she walks into her mother's office, "So this is what the inside of dad's office looks like!" She looks in awe of the magnificent metallic and modern amenities the lobby has to offer. The colorful marble floor leads to a beautiful, redwood reception desk. There are plenty of plants nestled by each and every pillar holding the building up

"Looks great huh?" Rita smiles, "You can thank the 24-hour cleaning crew for that. They make sure the messes that come from workin' in business get cleaned up sooner rather than later."

"So where to first, mom?" Linka goes in excitement, "I heard there was a donut cannon here!"

Rita chuckles, taking her daughter's hand in her own as she does so, "That old thing? My boss bought it so he could have an intern launch donuts at us so we wouldn't have to move from our desks." She looks down at her, "Though, you could always ask for him to launch one at you."

"Awesome!" Linka goes, "Well what are we waiting for then?!"

"Haha." She chuckles, "We're just have to get you upstairs for the first thing today." She leads Linka to a set of nearby elevators and quickly puts her ID on the scanner, unlocking the menu for the destination. After hitting her choice, the nearby elevator opens up and the duo steps inside. And with that, the duo is brought up to the top floor.

A few moments later, the double doors open up once more, and immediately, Linka comes face-to-face with a group of the other daughters all geared up for the day, while the wait in front of a small stage.

"Huh, I didn't expect so many girls would be here." She chuckles.

"Sorry for the most boring part of the tour being first." Rita lets go of her daughter's hand, "But I'm sure that afterwards, you'll have a fun time!"

Linka shrugs, "No problem mom." She smiles, "After all, what could possibly be boring about playing darts and having donut cannons?"

A rather chubby man comes to the podium and Rita can't help but think, _"You just had to ask."_

Then he greets, "Hello, young daughters of my employees! I'm the CEO of this fine company and I'm here to show you the wonderful world of business!"

Linka leans in, eagerly awaiting what exciting news the man could bring!

A few minutes later…

"Linka…" Rita shakes her daughter awake, causing her to jump to her feet.

"Who, what, when, where, why, how?!" she quickly looks around, before her eyes fall upon Rita. "Huh, oh, hey mom!" she nervously responds.

"Are you tired?" She asks, "I don't want you-"

Linka responds by simply waving her off, "Don't worry, I'm all right."

Rita chuckles, "Sorry, my company's CEO has a bad habit of giving long-winded speeches with way too many acknowledgements. Which I might have taken as a habit, myself."

"Yeah, I guess," Linka tilts her head in curiosity. "Where do we go now?"

Rita grabs her hand, "Next is the tour!" She smiles in excitement, "You'll get to see where the magic happens… well, business, but it's the same thing."

"Really? Magic and business are the same thing?!" Linka goes in excitement, "Let's go!" She runs to catch up to the group of girls.

And so, they go on a short tour… of the multiple floors of seemingly identical offices Rita's workplace has to offer. By the end of the rather boring tour, most of the girls present are bored out of their minds, while Linka fights off the urge to sleep.

The CEO stops the group of girls in front of a set of oversized elevators.

"And with that, we finish the tour!" he excitedly goes, "I hope you girls enjoyed, and I hope that you'll one day come to work here!" He nods, before turning and walking away, allowing the parents to claim their daughters and head downstairs.

 _ **A few minutes after that…**_

"So, how'd you like 'Take Your Daughter To Work' Day?" Rita asks, holding onto her daughter as she does so.

"I dunno… I though it to be more fun than what actually was…" She looks away, _"Something tells me the girls were having too much fun when it was their turn."_

"Heh, true." She looks down at her daughter, "Then again, it's not as crazy as when the boys aren't around."

"Why's that?" Linka at her mother in curiosity.

"Simple." She responds, "The last time they were allowed to come by, they caused such a mess that my boss barred them from ever coming back." She kneels down to her height and smiles, "Luckily, take your son to work day comes after take your daughter to work day."

"Why's that mom?" Linka tilts her head.

"Because my boss saw that you were well-behaved. So he told me I could bring you, but never bring the boys, ever again… if I wanted to keep my job of course."

Suddenly, the pieces fall into place, _"So that's why dad never takes me to work! Dangit, why do the girls have to screw up so much?!"_

Rita quickly checks her watch, "Well, we've still got a few hours before Lane's… issues today die down." She looks at her daughter once more, "Is there anywhere where you wanna go today?"

Linka rubs her chin for a moment, "How about we go get some ice cream?"

"Sure." She rubs her daughter's head, "After that, maybe we could have some fun, mother-daughter bonding time."

"That sounds nice." Linka smiles, before a thought comes to her, "Now that you mention it, I wonder how the boys are doin' right now." Linka rubs her chin.

"I'm sure they're fine." Rita responds, leading her to the car, "After all, they do take after your wild man of a father."

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Dangit, I'm pinned down!" Loni shouts into his small radio, "I'm in the kitchen, and there's a bunch of raccoons ready to pounce on me if I try to move!"

"Sorry Loni, I can't help you!" Luke responds, taking cover behind the couch as he does so, "Lane managed to rework the pie Vulcan from last year, and by the looks of it, it's not gonna run out of ammo any time soon!" He glances over the couch, and just as he expected, A large, Gatling gun-style cannon continues to fire, no doubt tracking his heat. The weapon's two side barrels are loaded up with what looks to be row after row after row of single serving sized lemon meringue pies hooked up to the ammo feeds. "What about the twins?!"

"Kinda busy dealin' with the pranks outside!" Leif frantically shouts, while both he and Lexx work their way across the front yard, desperately dodging the random barrage of incoming ordinance. "We can't help!" That's the last thing he says, before a set of dirty underwear smacks him in the face.

"Leif!" Lexx goes, "Man down! I repeat, Leif has taken undies to the face!"

"I'm stuck in the basement!" Lynn shouts, holding onto Lars as he does so, "Lane wasn't kiddin' about goin' all out! He fitted the basement with banana peel traps! We can't get out without falling!"

In the nearby bunker, Lynn Sr. slams his hands upon the planning desk, the hard metal slightly hurting his hands, "Dangit! Lane's winning the prank war!"

"This is good, he's burning his frustration." Levi declares, "Though my siblings are in desperate need for aid."

"Levi…" Lynn Sr. speaks with a fatherly calmness, "Did you forget what one of the prerequisites to keeping his April Fools urges down was?"

"I assume so, please remind me, father." Levi turns to the man.

Lynn Sr. lets out a deep breath, "He needs to feel fulfilled. And last time I checked, not having a challenge doesn't make someone feel fulfilled!"

"Dangit…" Levi mutters, "Where's Loki?!"

Meanwhile, said eldest brother lies on his bed, staring at the ceiling as he repeats the harsh words that were said to him just a few weeks prior, _"_ _Yeah, you showed how much you were out of touch with me! All you did was show that you saw me as nothing more than a scarred little girl!"_ The sharp voice pierces his chest, _"Everything I've done… for naught… The best time of m life with her…"_

Usually, the tough young man didn't show his emotion. After all, he is supposed to be the strong leader of his siblings, and their universal protector… and yet, he finds himself unable to hold in what he had pent up. _"Lincoln… is… he's my sister… but he's going to leave. He's going to abandon us like Linka…_ " He tiredly stands up, "I need to find dad's stash of expired apple cider."

Wordlessly, he walks over to his room door, and opens it up. Immediately, a lemon pie flies at the young man's face… only for him to tilt his head to dodge it.

He calmly walks through the prank-filled hallway and down the stairs.

"Loki! Am I glad to see-" Luke starts… only to stop when he realizes that Loki had already walked into the kitchen.

"Loki!" Loni goes, "Help!" he motions for the raccoons growling at him to shoo, though none of them do.

The former cadet opens up the fridge, making sure to dodge the confetti cannon Lane somehow managed to fit in the fridge, before he pulls out a small bottle of sparkling juice and begins to drink it down.

"Uhh…" Loni stops and looks at his elder brother, the latter now reduced to a wreck in front of the fridge. "Are you ok bro?"

"Loni…" Loki looks up as his brother, "Mind if I ask you something?"

The young man shrugs, "Sure Loki, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to help you much… I'm not good at answering anything."

"If you cared for someone, and found out that they had to leave… what would you do?" Loki drinks more of the bottle as he does so.

Loni uses a nearby spoon to prod the raccoons back, "Well… I guess I would try to take care of them until they had to go." He looks at Loki, "I mean, I know it'd be hard, but if I truly loved them, I'd do whatever I could do for them until they had to leave."

" _Just like we've been doin' for Lincoln these past few months…"_ Loki clutches the bottle, _"Linka never did anything he has… and after what she told me… I don't think I want her back, ever."_ He throws the bottle aside, knocking out the raccoons as he does so. _"But… we do what we do because we love her…"_ The young man stands up, his heart racing.

"L-Loki?" Loni goes in surprise.

" _It's why we took her away from the house today… or why we always go with her no matter where she goes…"_ He clutches his chest, _"And… I feel a connection to her now… Lincoln…"_ He shakes his head, determination filling his body, "Loni."

"Yeah?" The young man gets on his feet.

"We've got a house to clean up."

 _ **Back with Linka and Rita…**_

The two young women sit on a park bench as they enjoy a pair of nice, refreshing cones of ice cream. Linka taking a strawberry-chocolate one and eating it rather… seductively, while Rita took a plain chocolate one.

"Now Linka, please eat your ice cream like a normal person would." Rita goes, looking at her daughter with slight annoyance.

"Sorry mom." The girl looks at her mother, "I'm just practicing to give Lane a scare tomorrow, or maybe a couple days from now." She puts on a devious smile, "I'm going to give him some payback for all those dirty jokes!"

"Remember dear, that the best way to deal with a pervert is to just ignore them, tell them to stop, or call the police." The woman chuckles, "Anyhow, is there anything you wanna talk about before we go back home?"

" _Wow… what should I talk about?"_ The young girl thinks for a moment, the countless possibilities whizzing passed her like a small storm. Yet, the idea makes itself known, " _The event that changed my family effected my brothers and dad. Yet, mom doesn't seem to have been traumatized by it... Why?"_ She then turns to her other and asks, "Mom, why are you so laidback?"

" _Dangit…"_ The older woman thinks, before sighing, "Mind being more clear?"

Linka shrugs, "I just wanna know why you usually don't speak up when the boys suggest or do something? I mean I heard last week you were holdin' dad down at the tourney."

The woman looks away, "Well, I suppose I just like how your father runs things…"

"Huh?" The younger girl tilts her head.

"After the 'incident', your father had a wake-up call of sorts." She looks away and begins tearing up, "I was busy making sure you would be able to cope and sleep at night, after all, you couldn't even be in the same room with the boys." She lets out a deep breath, "So, I guess I saw your father really step up to protect us all."

She then looks at Linka, "The reason I've been taking charge more is because, well, I've noticed something different with you."

"What do you mean mom?"

Rita begins to run her hand through her daughter's long, white hair, "You seem less reserved now… like I could talk to you more often than before."

"Huh?" She looks on in confusion.

"Remember last night when we were adding some eggs to dinner?" Rita goes.

Her daughter nods in agreement, "Yeah mom."

"You showed me how to cook ten different types of egg shapes in the same pan." She chuckles, "I don't even know when you had the time to find out how to do that."

Linka shrugs, "Heh, I guess I just knew how." While she thinks, _"Haven't ten sisters with very specific needs helps."_

Rita chuckles, "Heh, anyways, when we cook together, I noticed how you loved talking about your day more and more. You really have grown passed what happened to you." She lies back in the bench, "So, I guess I decided to help you out. After all, you did seem to have more fun than before."

"Thanks mom." Linka puts her arms around her mother, who responds by doing the same, "No problem Linka."

They hug for a moment, before Rita goes, "Now my turn, right?"

Linka nods, "Yeah."

"Why'd you take that newspaper route job all those months ago?" Rita asks, a nostalgic curiosity filling her voice.

" _Mainly cause I had no idea that Linka wouldn't take a job like that."_ Linka thinks for a moment, before putting a nostalgic smile, "You know… I don't remember."

"Heh, of course." Rita chuckles, "Sometimes we don't remember why we do things." She turns to her, "Is there anything else you wanna do? After all, Lane's Prank War today is still goin' on strong."

Linka quickly eyeballs the area around, causing her sight to fall upon a familiar building, "How about a trip to the arcade? It could be fun, mom."

"Huh, you like video games?" Rita stands up, finishing her ice cream cone as she does so.

"Yeah! I love that and comics!" She finishes her cone as well and flails her arms up.

Rita smiles and rubs her head, "Then how about we get you some later?"

"Awesome." Linka goes, before the two women walk over to the small, brick building with light red metal doors acting as the entrance. They step inside and glance around. The place is slightly packed, with many of Royal Wood's young boys and some girls deciding to waste some time at the many games the arcade has to offer.

"So where to first?" Rita lets go of her daughter.

Linka looks around, before pointing at a familiar game with two plastic rifles attached.

"I dunno… that's a bit, violent, don't ya think?" Rita follows as Linka grabs hold of the one of them.

"Nah! We're takin' down Eliminator robots to save the world!" She aims, "Now come on! It's fun!"

Rita smiles and nods, "Ok, ok, I'll play." She puts in her coins and grabs hold of the second rifle, before starting the game up. Immediately, the duo is thrown into a crowd of the titular robots- amalgamations of metal and wiring given life.

Neither lady wastes time firing, reloading, and firing once more- their score counters building as they do so.

"Wow mom, you're really good at this!" Linka shouts, before hitting the orange tab to reload.

"Looks can be deceiving Linka." Rita responds, firing another bullet, taking the head off one of the robots, "I used to play lots of games, before I met your father of course."

Linka then throws a grenade, "What happened?"

"I got a job and kids." The woman then triggers the final weapon in her arsenal, taking out a majority of the enemies on screen, "I had no time to play anymore and stuff."

"Wow…" Linka whispers, _"The sacrifices everyone made for us…"_ She grits her teeth, _"Now I wanna know why she doesn't like it here?!"_

And so, the two ladies simply play the night away, bonding in ways only a mother and daughter can do so.

 _ **Back with the boys…**_

"Thanks Loki." Luke goes, motioning towards the, now disabled, pie cannon that had kept him down for close to an hour, "You're a life saver."

"No problem bro." Loki goes, a commanding air enveloping him, "We have to confront Lane, now." He looks at all of his brothers, before grabbing Loni's communicator, "Base, this is blue leader, what's the status of the house's pranks?"

Levi quickly goes through the list of reported pranks and answers, "By what I've seen, all traps should've been disabled. All that's left is to confront and defeat Lane!"

"Good." Loki goes, before declaring, "Ok guys, we're almost done with this prank war."

The brothers cheer for a moment, before Loki steps forward and runs up to the room door opposite his own.

"Lane! I know you're in there!" Loki shouts, while his brothers stand close by, ready to counter anything, in case Lane had made a last-minute change of plans.

"Come in!" Lane taunts, "You'll never defeat me, the muffin man! Cause I have the ability to prank everyone in this home!"

"The war is over, muffin man, all of your pranks have been used up! Everyone is safe and sound." Loki glances back at his brothers, "If you surrender now and come quietly, I'm sure-"

"Never!" Lane responds, "If you want me, you're gonna have to take my pranks from me! And I'm sure you'll never get passed my devious final defense!"

"Ready guys?" Loki whispers.

His ten brothers nod in response. Wordlessly, the former cadet steps back, before pulling his leg back, and kicking the door open… causing the old door to break from its hinges and fall forward, revealing an oversized rubber hammer. _"Dangit."_ Loki immediately ducks under the trap… only for the head to smack right into Loni, knocking him down.

"Charge!" Loki shouts as he rushes into the room. Leif and Lexx are immediately captured by prank, licorice nets, while Lynn and Lars run into sheets of pure Plexiglas… and end up knocking themselves unconscious.

"Well, well, well." Lane goes, "It looks like you're all alone Loki."

Loki grabs a nearby rubber chicken and holds it back, ready to strike, "So are you. Your traps have been triggered and I have one final prank ready to take you down." He thinks for a moment, "How the heck did you afford all this stuff?!"

"Oh my… what will I do?!" Lane taunts, "I've spent the last six months saving my money and getting supplies! You know it's hard doing two to five parties a week, but I manage!" He grabs a nearby leaver and pulls, "Good thing there are lots of birthdays in November!" And with that, a cannon, with pink wheels decorated by flowers and a blue barrel to emerges from the closet.

"A party cannon?" Loki raises an eyebrow, "When'd you get that?"

"I bought it off this weird girl with pink skin a while ago." He puts on a sinister smile, "And now, I'm gonna use it on you! Any last words, Loki Loud?!"

"Yeah, we win!" Loki lunges for the young man, without hesitation.

Lane panics immediately, hitting the trigger for the cannon, sending a wave of confetti, random goodies, cakes, pies and everything that could possibly fit into one small-sized package into the bedroom.

The former cadet doesn't hesitate to use his brother as a shield against his own weapon, causing the latter to end up covered in the mess he was trying to make.

"So, you surrender?" Loki asks.

"Thanks for this Loki. I feel the pranking build up fading away already." He smiles, before wiping some of the goo off his body, "I feel great Loki! I surrender!"

"Good." Loki then speaks into his radio, "War is over, and Lane has surrendered."

"Great!" Lynn Sr. goes, "Go clean up and make sure that all the pranking traps are gone, we don't want your mother and Linka getting pranked, now do we?"

"Understood." The young man declares as his communicator goes silent. "You guys knows what comes next."

The boys all groan in pain, before they stand up and get to work cleaning up the mess caused by the April first prank war.

 _ **Later…**_

"Really?! That's the secret ingredient to your secret ingredient soup?!" Lincoln's eyes go wide in shock, "You're kidding!"

"I'm serious Linka." Rita chuckles as she pulls into the driveway, "Now, Lane's issues should be over, how about we go inside and get dinner ready?"

Linka smiles, "Sure."

The two ladies then walk over to the front door… and nothing goes off, _"So far, so good…"_ Linka thinks, as she turns the knob and opens the door… only for a strawberry pie to fall right on her head.

"Dangit…" Levi mutters, "I knew we were forgetting a trap."

Lynn Sr. glares at Lane and Levi, as if ready to send them off to military school.

Yet, much to everyone's surprise, Linka shouts, "Woo! Awesome! Let's go again!"

The boys breathe a sigh of relief, "Maybe some other time Linka." Lane chuckles.

Loki then walks over to the girl and takes the pie crust off her head.

"Loki… are you ok?" Linka whispers.

Loki looks away for a moment, before whispering, "Even if you really aren't her… and even if you have to go, I'll… think about it more." He pulls the girl into a soft hug, before letting go, "Now go get ready."

Linka nods, before walking upstairs to get cleaned up, no doubt later she would be helping her mother prepare dinner.

Rita then walks over to her husband, "So, how was the war?"

"The usual, though Loki stopped mopping around and saved the day." Lynn Sr. nonchalantly responds, "How about the office?"

"Linka was bored there, 'nough said."

"Well, it's a good thing she only went this year cause it fell on April first." Lynn Sr. smiles, "What a nice, convenient way to get her out of the home on arguably the most dangerous day of the year here."

"Life is strange like that." Rita smiles, before the two adults nuzzle for moment, lean back and relax the night away.

 _ **Meanwhile, in Dimension C-137…**_

"Luan!" Lincoln shouts, "What's with all the pranks?!"

"I have to let loose today or else bad things happen bro!" Luan holds her arms up in defense, "I made sure to keep your room safe so I wouldn't hurt you and cause your injuries to get worse!"

"Ugh." Lincoln flails his uninjured arm up, "I hate your stupid, and unfunny pranks Luan!" He turns and limps up the stairs, while doing his best not to trigger yet another prank.

*Ding* *Dong* The doorbell goes.

" _Why is Lincoln such… a douche?"_ Luan sighs, before opening the door, revealing Clyde, holding a "Get well soon" balloon as ell as a random assortment of treats. "Oh, hey Clyde."

"Hey Luan!" Clyde goes in excitement, "I heard Lincoln had an accident, so I decided to bring some stuff for my…" His voice trails off, "Best friend!" While he thinks, _"And boyfriend… err transgender and confused girlfriend?"_

"He's upstairs." Luan calmly goes, stepping aside as she does so.

"Thanks!" Clyde then excitedly runs inside, and up the stairs.

" _Well… at least Clyde's happy."_ Luan sighs, before walking over and plopping down on the couch.

"Yo, Luan." Luna drops down next to her, "You ok sis? You're usually in higher spirits after a prankapocalypse and stuff."

Luan sighs again, "I know, but this time I scaled everything back because I didn't wanna accidentally hurt Lincoln… so I was able to keep the urge down, but…"

"But you need someone to get pied to keep it under control?" Luna finishes, looking at her as she does so, "I understand sis… really, Lincoln has been acting more and more like, well, an arse."

"What do you mean?" Luan tilts her head in confusion.

"I mean, he's making Lori do everything, and I don't even know why she's doin' it anyways." Luna continues, "He's starting to make us stop doing what we love for no other reason than, 'cause he said so'." She leans into the couch, "I swear, it's like he's an entirely different person."

"Yeah…" Luan whispers, "I know he doesn't like my pranks much, but he's told me to stop tellin' puns all together!"

"And he's told me my rock music was too loud!" Luna continues, "It's like our brother got replaced with some crazy arsehole of a girl from another dimension!"

"That's because he was." Lisa steps into the room, holding a small, watch-like device, "And I have a way to talk to the real one again."

The two young women turn to their younger sister in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

Lisa then motions for them to follow her, and they comply.

20-8-5-18-5 9-19 1-12-23-1-25-19 1 3-1-12-13 2-5-6-15-18-5 20-8-5 19-20-15-18-13.

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed that! I will now go to study calculus and chemistry cause two tests before spring break! As for Spring Break updates, since I'm currently writing "Finding A Loud" as well, these will remain on Sundays while I update that on Saturdays.**


	25. Connecting the Pieces

**A/N Hey guys! I'm back, and this time I'm on spring break! This was extremely difficult to write because of 2 tests, but hey, I managed! This is slightly shorter though, given the circumstances. Also, I thank you guys for 40K views and 25 chapters! Also, My biggest fan, I hope this chapter is something more interesting for you.**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: The truth is revealed and Lyle returns (Planned)**_

Story Twenty-Five: Connecting the Pieces

A soft hush falls upon the three girls as they enter the room of their two youngest siblings… only to find their remaining seven sisters waiting for them.

"Uhh Lisa… what's going on?" Luna tilts her head in curiosity. "And why is everyone here?"

Lori glances at her phone and sighs, before typing away at it just as she had always done "Yeah… what's going on? We're supposed to be taking care of Lincoln ya know."

"Yeah! All you told us was to come here and be quiet." Lynn declares, flaring her arms up as she does so. "And you know how much I hate being quiet!"

"I want some beauty sleep!" Lola complains, while Lana counters, "You mean your ugly sleep?"

And with that, the crowd of young girls descends into typical, loud, anarchy.

" _What am I going to do?!"_ Lisa nervously thinks, hesitating on her next words, _"I have to tell them everything, but are they ready?"_ She looks at her sisters and sighs, _"They deserve to know the truth about their brother… how he's not really who he says he is… I just hope things don't go too badly."_

"Well?" Lynn stares at Lisa with angry eyes, "Why'd you call us here sis? It's late ya know!"

"Sisters…" Lisa adjusts her glasses and pulls out a small, watch-like device, "As you may know, a few months ago I began experimenting with inter-dimensional travel."

"Yeah, and?" Lori waves her hand at her and begins to text, "Get to the point."

"Lincoln was my first test subject for a prototype watch capable of creating rifts in space-time." Lisa continues, glancing at the small device resting in her hands, "And as you know, approximately six months ago, our male sibling began to act unusually… adopting more feminine behaviors and attire, as well choosing to be referred to as our 'sister'."

"Like, ok!" Leni tilts her head in confusion, a wide smile on her face "Like what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing really… I think…" Luna looks away. "I guess he's just weird or something…"

Leni continues, naivety filling her voice, "Like, I don't get it. Why is our brother so weird all of a sudden?"

Lisa takes another deep breath, "I believe I am to blame for that." The young girl lets her arms go limp while the sisters shout, "What?!"

She nods, "Yes, it's true. It's my fault our male sibling has started wearing dresses… but that is besides the point." She turns around and motions towards her computer, "When I began to notice his erratic behavior, I immediately got to work on a device capable of neutralizing the original dimensional watch because 'Lincoln' somehow lost the original."

"So that's what you used the parts we got you for?" Luan tilts her head in curiosity and gives a soft smile before finishing, "That's a great **part!** Lisa!"

Immediately, her sisters groan.

Lisa nods, "Precisely." Motioning towards her new device, "I needed the parts in order to create a device capable of travelling between dimensions, however- due to unexpected circumstances, I have been forced to hide that device."

"With us." Lana finishes, while Lola continues, "We made sure to put is somewhere no one would ever be able to find it!"

"What does this have to do with us, Lisa?" Lucy suddenly appears, though her siblings don't react to her sudden appearance.

"I was getting to that!" Lisa turns to face her sisters once more, "However, after his return, dimensional ies; things that just don't belong in this dimension; began popping up more and more frequently, causing any device capable of jumping between dimensions to have an added risk of… well, exploding like anti-matter."

"Get to the point already!" Lola complains, crossing her arms as she does so, "We just wanna know why you decided to call us here so late!"

Lisa takes another deep breath and hesitates, _"I could just tell them about the device… I don't need to tell them about Lincoln."_ She looks up at her sisters, their faces filled with worry, confusion and impatience, _"But… the person in his body doesn't care for him at all… especially given what they've done."_

The young girl clenches her fists and looks up at them, staring into their waiting and nervous eyes as she does so, "Lincoln, isn't Lincoln."

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"So… uhh…" Cristopher rubs the back of his head and looks away from his friend, "You sure it's a good idea to visit Chandler today? I mean, you know how Linka gets when you even remotely mention her name."

Ron Andy nods, "Yeah Cris, I'm sure." His expression breathes of an unbroken seriousness… as the duo walks passed a set of garbage cans blinking in and out of existence, not that they notice of course. "Besides, she's indifferent to Chandler from what I've seen, or more… Linka hates handler, but Chandler hates her more, I forget which." He looks at his friend, "I'm just goin' over to make sure she knows not to hurt Linka."

Cristopher shrugs, "Well… ok then I guess."

The duo then walks passed a mailbox that blinks from one, to two, and back to one, though again, they don't notice the strange sight.

"But why today?" Cristopher continues, "Couldn't you, ya know, talk to her after that tourney two weeks ago?" His pace increases as they approach the manor.

"Because I just got another invite for tea." The Latino boy raises a small, pink, heart-shaped envelop with his name written all over, "This is, like, the one hundred and fiftieth one she's sent me!"

"Ahh." He responds, "So, you're going to tell her to stop?" Cristopher tilts his head.

Ron nods, "Yeah, despite all of the bad relationship advice Bebe's given me, going and outright telling Chandler 'no' is the best idea she's had."

Cristopher smiles, "So why's your sis not comin' with us?"

"Because she's still grounded from that Valentine's Day fiasco two months ago." He coldly responds, "And I'd rather not take the one girl that could accidently burn the mansion down with me!"

The duo turn another block, coming face to face with the manor as they do so… while not noticing the poor man who keeps splitting into two, before reforming as one.

"You know, you can go home if you want." Ron Andy turns to his friend.

"Ever since my computer was scrubbed, I don't have to spend my time looking for computer experts." He shrugs, "So most of my time is free."

"Huh, ok then." Ron Chuckles, "Awesome."

"That reminds me." Cristopher continues, "How are you feelin' about the guy-turned-girl has a crush on you thing?"

Ron sighs, "I'm still not sure what to think bro, I'm still not sure what to think."

"And why's that?" They walk up to the large metal gate, not noticing the trashcans multiplying and disappearing behind them.

"Because on the one hand, I like her. She's nice… she's more interesting to be around than the real Linka, but…" He looks at his friend with begging eyes, "I'm having trouble getting passed the absurdity of our situation." He hits the buzzer, "What'll happen when she goes home and turns back into a dude?"

Cristopher hesitates for a moment, "How about…" He lets out a deep breath, "How about dealing with that when the time comes?"

"Agreed…" Ron's voice trails off, as the metal gates to the manor part ways, allowing the two boys entry to the mansion. "How about you talk about Claudia?"

His friend smiles, "She's nice. Confusing, but nice."

"What do you mean by that?" Ron the two boys walk passed several butlers, who seem to repeat the same movements, though they don't notice.

"She likes me, and I like her, but things are still a bit awkward, ya know." He continues, "After all, she did admit she's bi of all things." He shrugs, "Plus, she tends to be a bit… emotional."

"Howso?" Ron walks up to the mansion front door.

"I once mentioned she had some lint on her dress and she started crying uncontrollably." Cristopher follows, rubbing the back of his head as he does so. "But hey, I guess that just comes with that territory."

"Heh…" Ron chuckles, relieved that he wasn't the only one in a strange situation, "Well at least your girl was always a girl." He chuckles again, though this time more relieved, "Plus, it doesn't look like anyone's trying to fight for you."

Cristopher pats his friend's back, "You luck man! Having two girls fighting over you!"

"Well, anyways, I guess we'll talk about that later." He takes a deep breath, "Here we go."

And with that, he knocks on the door.

 _ **Back With The girls…**_

"What are you talking about?!" Lori shouts, her voice filling with confusion. "What do you mean 'Lincoln's not Lincoln'?!"

Lisa sighs, "I mean what I said." She looks out the window, into the calm moonlit night, "The person currently acting as our brother isn't really our brother." She looks to Lana and Lola, "The twins can support my claim. They were there when the real Lincoln appeared."

The remaining seven sisters turn to Lana and Lola, while Lori asks, "Is this true you two…"

The twins look at each other and sigh, before Lana speaks, "Well… a few weeks ago, some weird girl saying she was Lincoln just appeared and well…" Her voice trails off uncertainly.

"I'm not sure what to think about it." Lola finishes, "I mean, she made a good case, but… I'm not sure."

"Ok…" Luan chuckles, "By the sound of it you got a **Ghostly encounter!** "

"Yes, quite." Lisa nonchalantly responds, while her the sisters groan in annoyance, "I, on the other hand, remained skeptical despite the claim." She then walks over and picks up a small vial of light-blue liquid, "In order to prove that our male sibling wasn't really our male sibling, I posed a simple question to him, 'how did the glow-in-the-dark cookie taste'?"

Luan rubs her chin, "I remember that!" Her smile turns to a disgusted grimace, "It tasted like vinegar… but at least it wasn't too **basic!"**

"Noted." Lisa mentally groans while her sisters do so physically, "He responded with said flavor without hesitation." She turns to Luan, "Did you ever speak of the flavor before now?"

"Nope!" Luan shakes her head; "I'd rather forget ever having that mess in my mouth."

"Then I think it's safe to assume that our brother is not really our brother." Lisa pours some of the blue liquid into her device. "But that's not the only reason I have called you here tonight."

"Well then, why else are we here?!" Luna shouts, her voice filling with an annoyed anger, "You just told us our brother isn't our brother!"

Lynn takes a moment to allow the news to sink in, before grabbing Lisa by the shirt and holding her fist to her little sister's face threateningly, "Yeah? By the sound of it, this was all your fault too!"

Lisa then raises her watch, "I have completed a device capable of allowing us to talk to him." Her voice goes low, "I have all brought you here to learn the truth, and so we could talk to our real brother together." She begins to tap away at the device's screen, "Lana, is 'Lincoln' around?"

Lana quickly runs to the door, turns to her little sister and nods, "Nope, by the sound of it, he's asleep.

"Good." Lisa takes a deep breath, before declaring, "Opening inter-dimensional viewing portal in three… two… one…"

The four-year-old hits a button on the device's side, and immediately, a portal opens up, revealing the image of a young boy working at his desk, with his older, Gotic brother standing behind him.

"This, sisters, is a parallel universe." Lisa motions towards the portal with a pink-white border, before she steps closer to it.

Her sisters watch in awe as Lisa simply taps the vortex, attracting the attention of the two boys inside with, "Greetings."

Levi and Lars then turn to the source.

"What the…" Levi jumps to his feet and runs over to the barrier… only to run right into it. "Ouch!"

"I'll go get Loki and Luke." Lars immediately declares, before disappearing just as Lucy has.

Levi, on the other hand, hops to his feet and greets, "Hello there strangers!" He begins to touch the clear barrier, "What is this amazing thing?!"

"First, let me introduce myself, I am Lisa Loud." The scientist motions towards herself, than her sisters, "These young women behind me are my sisters, and we have important information to share with you."

"Wait… Loud?" Levi tilts his head, "Are you the four-year-old scientist of your family?"

"Yes." Lisa answers. "Yes I am."

"As am I. Here, there are ten male siblings and one female sibling." Levi nonchalantly responds, tapping at the barrier as he does so,

"Interesting." Lisa's voice remains monotone, despite her counterpart's more lively voice, "It seems that, that dimension contains versions of ourselves with our genders reversed."

Lori then walks over to the barrier, "Uhh Lisa, what's the point of this?"

"Amazing, you found a way to get passed the dimensional anomalies preventing inter-dimensional control from working?!" Levi continues to poke at the clear barrier in amazement.

Lisa nods, "Yes, I had to spend weeks creating a device capable of opening rifts in space-time, but I believe the results show themselves."

"Amazing!" Levi smiles, "Would you care to share this amazing discovery with me?"

"Yes, but later." the young girl goes… only for Lola to step in and push her aside… and right into Lori.

"Where's Lincoln?! We want our brother back!" The pageant queen shouts, her voice filling with annoyance.

Levi tilts his head in confusion, "What are you talking about? I don't have a brother named Lincoln!" he rubs his chin, "Only a sister named Linka…"

"Yes, of course." Lisa pushes Lola away, "But you do have a white-haired sister, correct?"

"Yes, I do." The boy calmly answers, "Did she do something when using my dimension viewing goggles?"

"You made goggles capable of viewing other dimensions?" Lisa tilts her head in curiosity, why not a watch of some kind?"

"Anomalies." The boy doesn't hesitate to answer.

Lori then steps forward, "Uhh guys, care to get to the point? This is literally starting to bore me."

Lisa nods, "Right…" Before she looks Levi in the eye, "I believe your sister is our brother."

 _ **Back with Ron Andy…**_

A few minutes of waiting pass, before the front door opens up, revealing Chandler- dressed in an elegant and elaborate dress, wearing a seductive smile "Why hello their Ron Andy."

"Hey Chandler." Ron nonchalantly responds, shoving his hands in his hoodie's pockets as he does so.

The young girl throws her arms around him, much to the boy's dismay, "I'm glad you came! You never come to visit after all!"

"Uhh… yeah, we're glad you decided to invite us over." Cristopher speaks up, rolling his eyes as he does so, "I mean, you really wanted us to come and stuff."

"Why of course darling! Things get pretty boring around here, especially when you don't know anyone who shares the same interests as you!" She lets go of Ron Andy and steps aside, before motioning the duo to come inside, "Why don't you come in for some tea? I'm sure you two would love to join me!"

Cristopher turns and whispers, "Do we seriously have to do this Ron?"

"If I'm gonna get this girl off my back and stop her from trying to hurt Linka, I'm kinda stuck doing this."

And so, Ron Andy complies, while motioning for his friend to join him, which he does.

Chandler then leads the duo to a small room hidden in the west wing of the mansion, it's decorated with pink walls and a small tea table, "Come in, come in! Make yourselves at home!"

Ron Andy and Cristopher comply by taking off their shoes and jackets.

"So uhh, besides the team, why'd you call me over?" Ron takes a seat across from the girl.

"What?" Chandler pours a small cup of tea for him, "A girl can't invite a guy over for tea without him thinking they have some ulterior motive?"

"Of course." He pulls out a small piece of paper, "But when the invite is covered in hearts, and my name, I think there's more to it than that." He lets the paper unfold, causing a small cloud of dusts and glitter to fall out.

"Uhh… how about I uhh…" Chandler stands up, "Show you my family's most valuable possessions?!" She raises her hands in excitement.

"Why?" Ron Andy raises an eyebrow.

"Cause I wanna show you!" She stands up and motions for the two boys to follow, "After all, no one comes around here that much!"

" _Why do I have a feeling that she's just doing this in a vain attempt to convince me to dump Linka?"_ The boy calmly thinks, before Chandler pulls him into the next room.

Cristopher doesn't hesitate to shout, "Hey guys! Wait up!" While he follows the duo through the oversized hallways and up the mansion's winding stairs on their way to the home's private study.

A few moments later, they enter the cozy room with rows upon rows of bookcases lining the walls. There's a soft, red carpet covering the floor, while a small window rests against the wall opposite the door.

"Welcome to my dad's library!" Chandler declares, before pulling Ron Andy over to the chair by the fireplace and throwing him on it, "That's my dad's reading chair! How does it feel?!"

"Uhh… It's comfortable…" Ron Andy says, confusion filling his voice. He quickly looks around, "Why'd you bring us here?"

"I wanted to show you this room is all!" Chandler smiles.

"Uhh, Chandler, you really need to calm down." Cristopher speaks up, "I mean seriously, you're not giving us a chance to even catch our breath!"

"I just wanna make sure this visit counts!" The lone girl responds, her voice filling with desperation, "Ron Andy never comes over or responds to my letters and stuff anymore!" She fights the tears beginning to form under her eyes.

Ron Andy hops off the chair and shakes his head, "Chandler, you gotta calm down. I broke up with you months ago!"

"Yeah… but…" Chandler looks away, "Uhh… how about I show you my family's most prized heirloom!"

Ron Andy looks at her in confusion, "Why?"

"Cause I wanna!" She desperately shouts, before grabbing his arm again and pulling him over to a nearby glass case. Cristopher shrugs and follows.

Chandler motions towards the object resting inside, "Meet the Crown of Royal Woods! The most important thing my family owns!"

The crown consists of a silver ring, with two golden ornaments attaching purple crystals attached on both sides.

"What do you think?!" She desperately motions towards the item.

"I think it's fine…" Ron Andy tilts his head.

"Yeah, uhh, can we go now?" Cristopher tilts his head."

Chandler then removes the glass covering and picks it up, "Come on, don't ya wanna try it on? It'll make ya feel like royalty!" She then moves the crown closer to the two boys.

Ron Andy looks at Cristopher, the latter simply shrugging at the idea, "Ehh, sure, why not Chandler." Ron Andy then, simply touches the object.

Immediately, it begins to glow, and a bluish hue overtakes the room.

"What the?!" Chandler shouts, before she, too, is overtaking by the blue air, "What's going-" She doesn't finish.

Cristopher and Ron Andy look around in shock.

"What the?!" Cristopher frantically darts his head around the room, "What just happened here?!"

Ron Andy focuses on the crown for a moment, before pulling it from Chandler and holding it in his own hands, "The… the crown did this…"

"How do you know?" Cristopher tilts his head in curiosity.

"This happened when I touched it, that's why." Ron Andy stares at his friend in annoyance, "I mean come on! If you couldn't figure that out, you need to go back to third grade!"

"Well sorry!" Cristopher shouts, before pinching the bridge of his nose, "Whatever, do you at least know why we're not frozen like everything else around here?"

"I can answer that!" A voice calls out, before a young girl appears before the two boys, a big smile overtaking her face.

"Well then, why?" Cristopher puts his hand on his nips in annoyance.

"Because I smell my sister's scent all over you!" She teleports behind them, "But I don't see her anywhere! So you must've gotten her hidden somewhere or something!" She reappears in front of them and rubs her chin, "Hmm, though You haven't earned me yet…" She snaps her fingers, "I know! You earn me and you can take me to my sisters!"

The two boys look at each other in confusion, before turning back to the feminine figure.

"Uhh…" Ron Andy goes, "S-sure?"

Cristopher continues, "What's the challenge?"

Immediately, the begin snaps her fingers, causing a familiar young woman clad in a lavender shirt and blue jeans to appear in front of them, "It seems you're not the only one out to get me!" She floats in front of the young woman, she too is frozen in time. She snaps her fingers, causing the hunter to release from the grasps of time.

"Huh?! Where am I?!" She quickly looks around, her eyes falling upon the crown, "I'm in the target building?! I was just outside a few moments ago!"

"Hello Lyle Loud!" The being shouts, catching the hunter's attention, "I'm the Component! I noticed you were watching me yesterday, so I decided to give you a chance to earn me!"

Immediately, Lyle looks down at her holo-gear, "You're not an anomaly… but you have the powers of one!" She glares at the being, "What are you?!"

"I'm the Macguffin Fragment that control time itself!" The being responds, turning to the boys as she does so. "I noticed all of you want me right?"

"Ron Andy?" Cristopher turns to the boy, "It's one of those fragments Linka is lookin' for…"

"I know." Ron Andy grits his teeth in determination while nodding in affirmation.

"And since you all want me, I'll go to which one of you can win in a fight! You guys get to choose the challenge, so long as it's exciting." The being puts on a big, excited smile at the mere thought of having a show put on just for her!

"Command, permission to engage, in order to acquire the artifact?" Lyle whispers into her holo-gear, and immediately receives the response, _**"Do whatever you deem necessary in order to acquire the artifact. We cannot risk losing another to an anomaly."**_ Lyle nods, "Understood command."

"So, do you accept these terms?!" The being finishes, her smile unwavering.

Ron Andy and Cristopher turn to each other.

"I'll do this for her…" Ron Andy's voice trails off.

"You sure bro?" Cristopher responds, "I'll do this if you are, but if you're unsure, I'll back away."

" _If I remember correctly… that's the missing part… after that Linka leaves and goes home…"_ He shakes his head, "It's nothing Cris. Let's do this, ok?"

His friend shrugs, "Ok." Then, with determination filling their bodies, they turn back to Lyle.

"We'll fight you!" Ron Andy declares, "For the fragment!"

Lyle stares at them in disbelief, before shrugging, "Ok then." Then she taps away at the holo-gear for a moment, before the computer declares:

 _ **Generating Hunting Field: Sogen**_

And immediately, hardlight swords appear in the boys' hands.

"Uhh… what did we just get ourselves into?" Cristopher looks at his new weapon in surprise.

"I have no idea." Ron Andy nonchalantly responds, readying his weapon as he does so.

Lyle then continues, "My name is Lyle Loud of dimension ZX-289"

"I'm Ron Andy!" The Latino boy responds, holding the sword in front of him as he does so.

"And I'm Cristopher Cloud!" The red head holds his sword at his side.

"And, fight!" The being shouts, before jumping out of the way. "Go ahead and please me the way you see fit!"

And with that, the three people run at each other.

* * *

"Guys…" Nyla jumps to her feet and throws on her clothes, "A beacon's been lit!" Her voice fills with a soft panic.

The ex-hunters immediately hop to their feet in shock, "What?!"

"Check your holo-gear, they're going crazy." She continues, securing her own device to her wrist as she does so, "Apparently, someone has triggered a beacon, and command has warned everyone in the nearby dimensions to stay clear."

"We have to help whoever's there!" Nell shouts, securing her gear as well.

Nyla nods, "Yeah, we do." Before she sighs, "I have a feeling Lyle is going to be there too though…"

"Are you sure?" Alex speaks up. "I mean… if you're right, we don't stand a chance against class 3…"

Nyla sighs, "If I've learned anything from being here, nothing is what it seems." He hands the twins their gear, "Now come on, we have to make sure that beacon goes off as soon as possible."

And with that, they gear up and rush out of the apartment door.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"So you mean to tell me, that the girl I've been living with for the past six months isn't my real sister?" Levi repeats, trying to make sure he had heard the claim correctly.

Lisa nods, "Yes, that is the case."

" _No…it's not true, it can't be true!"_ Levi clenches his fists, "And do you have any proof of this? I mean, I of all people should know my sister. I have known her since birth and have had to be prepared to drop everything for her!"

"What do you mean, 'drop everything for her'?" Luna steps into the frame, pushing the other girls aside as she does so.

"After a certain 'incident' we don't like to talk about, our family made Linka the center of our lives." He sighs, "But that's besides the point, what proof do you have that she's not really Linka?!"

Lynn pushes her way into the frame as well, "What about how she's been acting the past few months?"

Levi tilts his head, "What do you mean?"

"She's talking about more masculine behavior." Lisa pushes the other girls away and readjusts her glasses, "Liking things she didn't before, doing things differently, etcetera."

The young boy hesitates for a moment, as if all the pieces he had found suddenly started making sense, _"Linka… isn't Linka…"_ His mind races passed the possibilities, _"No, it's not true, it can't be true! Linka just decided that it was time for a change!"_ Then, the memories of all the times she refused to do anything with him, usually coupled by a door slam resonate in his mind.

"Hey Linka, could you-" He had asked, only for Linka to slam her room door in his face.

" _But, Linka just wanted to help me! She came to the convention center because, because… she… didn't care for me before…"_ The realization slowly dawns on him. Tears begin to fill the typically stoic scientist's eyes, _"No, it's not true! I, I showed her what I liked! We spent time at Comic-Con! We played card games on the ARC System! We… did things she used to hate…"_

Tears begin to stream down his cheeks as he looks down in a desperate attempt to hide them, "She's… you're right… she has been acting strangely… she's… she's worked as a newspaper delivery girl. Gone out with friends and… bonded with us…"

"I'm not surprised…" Lisa sighs, "Before the mix-up, he was an amazing brother. No doubt that has translated to his behavior with you."

Lola puts her hands on her hips, "Dangit, he's our brother! Why'd he bond with those guys?"

"Don't be jealous sis." Lana nonchalantly responds.

Levi hesitates and clenches his fists, "No. I don't believe you!" He points at the girl, "You're lying!"

"I'm sorry Levi, but it's true." Luke walks into the room, followed by Loki and Lars. "Linka's not really Linka." He walks over to his little brother, before turning to face the portal, "Hey there."

"Hello there." Lisa calmly greets, "I believe it is safe to assume that you're Luna's counterpart, correct?"

Luke shrugs, "Not sure, who's Luna?"

"Uhh… hi there…" Luna steps forward with that, "Who are you?"

"I'm Luke." He tilts his head in curiosity, "Nyla?"

Luna shakes her head, "No, I'm Luna… who's Nyla"

"Sorry, I'm dating one of my counterparts…" Luke chuckles, before he continues, "Or by the looks of it, our counterparts. Her name's Nyla."

"I see…" Luna responds, before her eyes go wide in realization, "Wait, what?!"

Luan the chuckles, "I guess that you **incest** your relationship remain platonic, right?!"

"Uhh… Luke, who's Nyla really?" Loki looks at his slightly younger brother in confusion.

"She explained that's not how it works. We're not related..." Luke awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "And well… she's really an inter-dimensional traveller, and whose tech allows travel between realities those she hasn't done it in a while."

"Wait… what?!" Lisa pounds against the invisible barrier. "You mean there's been a way for Lincoln to come home this whole time and he hasn't used it?!"

The young man sighs, "Not really." He looks the young scientist in the eyes, "She's told me that the anomalies prevent her from going home as much as she'd like to."

"The anomalies…" both Levi and Lisa turn to each other in a knowing realization. "They're messing with everything we're trying to do."

"Were you trying to find a way to fix the anomalies too?" Lisa asks, tilting her head in curiosity.

"Yes and no." Levi shakes his head, "I was asked to build devices capable of inter-dimensional communication and viewing… I found attempting to repair the dimensional anomalies too arduous of a task to complete without outside intervention. So I've just been working around them instead of trying to fix them." Levi thinks for a moment, "My sister has been using the goggles I gave her a lot."

"So… Lincoln's been watching us this whole time?" Luan speaks up, a soft smile beginning to form on her face, "Heh, I guess **Everything Stays!"**

"You're definitely Lane's counterpart." Loki groans, pinching the bridge of his nose as he does so. "So, now that you've got this portal thing set up, what are you going to do?"

"We want to talk to Lincoln again." Lisa calmly answers, before motioning towards her sisters "I built this so we can work on dealing with your sister together..."

"How is she?" Lars suddenly reappears, his voice filling with a pained hope. "We haven't heard from her since..."

Lisa turns to her sisters and sighs, "She's… not doing too well here…"

"What do you mean?" Loki pushes the young boy aside, his voice filling with surprise. "What happened to her! And what's she doing over there?!"

"She loves it here I guess… but if Lincoln's really been watching us, he already knows." Lisa lets her body go limp. "She's basically ruined his life…"

"What do you mean?" Lars tilts his head.

Lori then pushes Lisa aside, "Look, I don't know who you are, but I guess you," She points at Loki, "Are my counterpart. And I wanna know how your only sister is doing first! Come on, spill!"

"Lincoln's doing fine." Loki calmly responds, his voice filling with a soft professionalism. "Because of events we'd rather not talk about, our family dynamic has revolved around our only sister for years, so we have been taking good care of him... though currently some of us..." He glances at his brothers, "Are unsure of what to do with him."

"What do you mean by that?" Lori tilts her head.

"He means that everything we do is done to protect her." Levi answers, "Until recent events changed some things, Linka used to be unable to even go outside without one of us present to make sure she was safe."

"After learning the truth, we have been doing our best to keep his secret safe." Loki then steps closer to the device, his voice filling with anger, "But enough of him, how's Linka doing?"

The girls look at each other and let out a deep breath, before Lori answers, "Our Linka… is in bad shape. She somehow fell down the stairs one night and, well, now she's in a cast."

The boys push back the soft pain they feel for a moment, before shaking their heads in affirmation, "Ok…"

"Will you guys be all right?" Lynn speaks up, "You look a bit… hurt."

"We'll be fine." Loki clenches his fists, "We have some unfinished business with our Linka and we wanna make sure she can handle it."

"Why's that?" Lisa asks, leaning closer to the portal as she does so.

Loki doesn't hesitate his answer, "Because our Linka, the one I assume you have living with you, is a selfish, cruel and manipulative arsehole who took everything we did for granted, only to abandon us the first chance she got!"

"Is… is this true Loki?" Levi meekly asks, stepping closer to his elder brother as he does so.

"Yes." The cadet nods, before looking at Lori, "I believe it's safe to assume that, as the leader, you've done your best to take care of the situation."

Lori recoils for a moment, before nodding, "Yes, I've done my best to make sure our current brother's needs were taken care of…" Her voice trails off.

"You should stop it then." Loki crosses his arms, "She doesn't deserve any care after what she's said to us."

"And what was that?" Lynn pushes her way into view.

Lars then steps forward, "She told us that we were horrible brothers and that everything we did for her just made her feel like a prisoner! We made our whole lives revolve around her!"

Lucy then appears in front of him, "So you're my counterpart, huh?"

"Yeah." Lars calmly responds, the heat of his answer all but faded."

"Why are you so gloomy?" Lucy continues, "I prefer the dark because it's comfortable to me."

Lars doesn't hesitate to respond, "I like the dark because one of my earliest memories was of Lane cradling me in a dark room, telling me that everything was going to be all right."

"Interesting…" Levi and Lisa both go, before turning back to each other, with Lisa continuing, "I have more questions to ask you."

"As do I." Levi responds.

Loki then steps forward, "Why are you here?"

"We wanna talk to Lincoln again!" Lola runs into the portal frame, pushing the other girls aside as she does so.

Luke shakes his head in response, "Sorry, she can't. She's out doing something with Loni."

"Dangit." Lisa goes in response. "Thanks anyway."

"No problem." Levi sighs, " There is still much I have to ask. I'll begin developing a device like that on my end."

"Good, remember you need to-"

*Yawn* Lincoln goes as he limps into the room, "Hey girls, I need to use the bathroom, but I need some help." He looks around the room for a moment, "What's going on?"

The girls look at the young boy in horror for a moment, unsure of just how to respond to his sudden appearance.

"Uhh guys, why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" He carefully looks around the room, causing his eyes to fall upon the open portal and the device that fuels it, "Oh great, Lisa! You've completed the device!"

"L-Linka?!" Levi's mouth opens in shock, "Is that really you?!"

"What?" The boy leans back and stares at the young scientist in contempt, "No! I'm Lincoln!" He turns to the girls surrounding him, "You tell him girls! I'm your transgender brother!"

The girls whisper amongst themselves in response.

"What the?!" He then walks over to Lisa, and motions towards the device, "Whatever, give me the device Lisa, I need it."

Lisa hesitates for a moment, and shakes her head, "No, I won't give it to you!" She stares at the young boy, "We know you're not Lincoln!"

"What do you mean?" Lincoln puts on a joking tone, "Of course I'm your brother!"

"They know the truth Linka!" Loki shouts, hardening his stance as he does so, "We all know the truth!"

"You're not really Lincoln… are you?" Lucy appears in front of the boy in a dress, "You stopped helping me with my poems because you said they were too gloomy."

Lincoln steps back in shock, "L-Lucy! I am you brother!"

The other girls don't respond, choosing instead to step back and watch.

"We know the truth." Luke declares, "And so do they! You can't keep lying forever!"

"Whatever. I'll never go home and you can't make me!" Lincoln points at the portal, before jumping at Lisa, "You'll give me that device or else!"

Luna speaks up, rushing to aid her four-year-old sister as she does so, "Or else what?"

" _Looks like there's no use in hiding it anymore."_ A devious smile overtakes his face, "Give me it, or I'll make sure Lincoln suffers if he ever tries to come back."

Lori speaks up, her voice filling with anger, "And how do you intend to do that?"

The injured boy rubs his chin, "Oh I don't know… maybe I'll throw myself down a set of stairs again!"

That's when Lynn speaks up, "But won't you be suffering in the meantime? Broken bones heal you know."

Yet, the young boy doesn't hesitate to answer, "But can he heal from a broken back? Or a missing leg?"

Lucy then counters, "Are you sure you can get those things without killing yourself instantly?"

"Yes." Her voice remains unwavering against the girls standing behind her.

"You're crazier than the Joker and Harley Quinn combined!" Luan shouts, flaring her arms up as she does so.

"You have to leave!" Lola shouts, while Lana finishes, "We want our Lincoln back!"

Linka responds, "No, I don't wanna go!"

"This isn't your life Linka!" Luna shouts. "It's-"

"My life!" Lincoln cuts her off, "'It's not my life.' 'It's not my life.' 'It's not my life.' I'm so sick and tired of hearing that from everyone! Back there wasn't my life either! Your brother seems to be living my life more than I got to! Well, if I can't have his life, then it doesn't get to be anyone's life!"

" _Dangit… if she's implying what I think she's implying, I have to think fast… I got it!"_ Lisa then takes a deep breath, "Fine, we'll let you stay."

Immediately, the sisters, as well as Levi, Luke, Lars and Loki shout, "What?!" In unison.

Lisa continues, "We'll... we'll learn to live with you. Start fresh… with you as our sister."

For a moment, the girl looks on in confusion, before nodding, "Great! Just give me the device!"

Lisa looks at her sisters and begrudgingly complies, closing the portal as she does so. And with that, Lincoln limps out of the room.

"What are we gonna do now?" Leni finally asks.

"I don't know." Lori responds, before the girls all turn to Lisa.

Lynn grabs her, "You have so much to explain, right now!"

* * *

" _I can't believe I opened up to a girl just pretending to be my sister…"_ Levi stares at the space where the portal was for a moment, before turning to his brothers and declaring, "You have so much explaining to do now."

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Man, this is too easy for me." Lyle quips as she easily forces Ron Andy to the ground, "I mean seriously!"

Cristopher tries ambush her from behind, yet Lyle easily sees the attack incoming and steps out of the way, "Come on! You two gotta try to beat me better than that!"

Ron Andy grits his teeth before jumping to his feet, "I'm not going to give this up!" He charges at her, sword first.

"Dude, just give up, you're not an anomaly and you probably have absolutely no training with a sword." Lyle calmly raises her weapon to block, easily parrying the attack when it comes.

"Yeah, but I've got this girl, and she's lookin' for this thing so she can go home."

Cristopher then comes up from the side, with Nyla too busy keeping Ron Andy in place, she wouldn't be able to block this attack!

So she steps out of the way, while chuckling, "Heh, nice try, but you can't beat a class three hunter that easily!"

The two boys then attack her simultaneously, driving her backwards in an attempt to overpower her.

Yet, Lyle doesn't back down, choosing instead to block each attack with relative ease, "Guys, I don't wanna hurt you. My job is to get this artifact and leave no lasting marks on this universe." She watches as the two boys begin to sweat and take deeper breaths as they are pushed to exhaustion.

"I mean seriously, you really think you can defeat years worth of swords training?!" Lyle then easily pushes the two boys down, causing them to fall in exhaustion.

"You did it! You win!" The being reappears, before taking the form of the crown once more.

"Now, if you need me, I'll be taking this artifact." And with that, she grabs the crown of Royal Woods causing the blue hue to leave the room, allowing time to restart once more.

"What the?!" Chandler looks at the young woman holding her family's most prized heirloom, "Who are you?!"

"I'm a hunter." Lyle calmly responds.

"Lyle!" Nyla and the other ex-hunters rush into the room, their holo-gear raised.

Nyla continues, "What's going on here?!"

Chandler immediately looks around, "I don't know!"

Lyle smiles, "I was just finishing a mission." She raises the crown, "I need to get this to a safe place."

"That's my family's most prized heirloom!" Chandler shouts, before looking passed the class three hunter, causing her to spot two unconscious boys, "Ron Andy!"

Lyle glances back, "Oh, those two? I had to knock them out because they were too busy trying to fight me for this thing." She chuckles, "Don't worry, I won't turn them into cards."

Nyla Raises her holo-gear, "Lyle, drop it and go home. We don't want to hurt you. We need that to save this universe.""

"Now Nyla, Nell, you both know that isn't happening." She raises her own, "And no class two is able to beat me.

Alex speaks up, "Yeah, but we have to try!"

Lyle looks at the twin hunters in contempt for a moment, before muttering, "I used to be in charge of some of your counterparts. By what I remember, you had PTSD from your older brother beating on you." She looks into his light brown eyes, "Am I correct?"

"No!" Aeif immediately speaks up, "Now fight! Why do you want that thing anyways?!"

"Simple, a class three anomaly seems to be after it." She chuckles, "But for now, I don't think that's too important, after all, I have four disavowed units to turn into cards now.

"Yeah, as if we'd let you do that!" Nyla declares, before Lyle hits the screen of her device, causing the fragment to disappear into the device, before the computer continues:

 _ **Generating Hunting field: Sogen… Warning! Anomaly influx detected! Warning: Evacuate dimension as soon as possible!**_

"A shame." Lyle shakes her head, "I was looking forward to turning you into cards." She then turns around, "Until next time." And with that, she quickly opens a portal and jumps through.

The gate closing behind her as it does so.

"Wha… what just happened?!" Chandler shouts, grabbing onto her head as she does so, "My mom is gonna be so mad about the crown!"

"It was probably insured." Nyla responds, before turning to the others, "Come on guys, we gotta warn Linka, if what Lyle said was true, that must've been a Macguffin fragment."

The ex-hunters nod, before all four run out the door.

"What the heck is going on here?!" Chandler shouts, flaring her arms up as she does so.

*Groan* Ron Andy goes, before pulling himself up, "What happened?"

"Someone broke into my house and you got knocked out!" Chandler shouts, "What's going on here?!"

"I have no idea." Ron Andy declares, before helping Cristopher to his feet.

Chandler begins to pace around the room and panic, "What am I gonna do?!"

Ron Andy pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Now Chandler, just stay calm." Cristopher grabs hold of her shoulders, and looks into her eyes, "Just remember, this isn't your fault, just tell your parents that someone broke in and the guards didn't help you, ok?"

Chandler nervously nods.

"Good." Cristopher then hugs her, "You're all right."

"Thanks… Cristopher was it?"

"Yeah." The red-haired boy responds. "I'm Cristopher Cloud."

Ron Andy stretches, "I think we should get out of here."

Cristopher nods in agreement.

"Come back soon…" Chandler goes, "My parents are gonna be so mad…"

And with that, the two boys walk out of the mansion, not noticing the random weirdness happening around them.

20-8-5 2-5-7-9-14-14-9-14-7 9-19 14-9-7-8! 23-9-20-8 6-15-21-18 6-18-1-7-13-5-14-20-19 6-15-21-14-4, 9-20 9-19 15-14-12-25 1 13-1-20-20-5-18 15-6 20-9-13-5 2-5-6-15-18-5 20-8-5 5-12-5-13-5-14-20 15-16-5-14-19!

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! I apologize if this wasn't whammy enough for a wham chapter. Also, I feel like I just missed the mark drama-wise here. Please, tell me what you guys think! And as always, feel free to send in ideas!**

 **Also, "Unwavering Bonds" returns this Friday!**


	26. Dresses and Woodshop

**A/N As always, I'm back right on time! And with the last part of my Spring Break Triple Update Weekend! I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter! Also, happy Easter!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Linka and Loni spend some time together, and Loni's revelation. (Planned)**_

Story Twenty-Six: Dresses and Woodshop

 _ **Eight Hours Earlier…**_

*Yawn* Linka tiredly walks into the Loud House Kitchen, and steps over to the stove, where her mother is waiting for her, "Mornin' mom."

"Morning honey." Rita cheerfully greets, "How did you sleep?"

Linka smiles, "Great mom, great!"

Rita smiles as well, "Well, you know the deal Linka." She pulls out a carton of a dozen eggs, "You know your brothers love the way you make their breakfast."

"Heh, of course mom." She grabs the carton and immediately gets to work, "So, mom…" Her voice trails off.

"Yes Linka?" Rita carefully prepares the bacon to go with the eggs.

"Since, ya know, you used to play games and stuff, do you wanna go to Gus' Games And Grub later?" linka's voice fills with a child-like hope.

Rita smiles at her daughter, before shaking her head, "Now Linka, as much as I'd like to do that, "Your birthday's coming up remember?"

Immediately the girl turns to her mother, "Really?!"

She nods, "Yes, so we have to get you a new dress for the party."

Linka perks up in excitement, "That sounds great! When do we go?!"

"There's another problem with that." Rita continues, "I'm a bit busy today, so I really can't bring you either. I'm sorry."

"Oh…" Linka's voice loses its hopeful glow.

She rubs her chin, "Though… maybe one of the boys could…" She snaps her fingers, "I know, I'll just tell Loki what type of dress I need you to get and-"

"You sure that's a good idea mom?" Linka tilts her head. "With all due respect to Loki, he's not the best at picking out clothes."

"Now why do you say that?" Rita tilts her head in curiosity.

"He wears the same tank top every day." Linka flatly responds, while rubbing the back of her head.

"Good point." Rita rubs her chin and snaps her fingers, "How about Loni then?"

Linka tilts her head as well, "Wait, why don't we just ask Loni to make one?!"

Rita waves her daughter off, "Because he doesn't make dresses remember." She chuckles, "But he does have a good eye for detail." Her voice fills with a motherly care, "Yeah, he make be better at making wood crafts, but that doesn't mean he can't help you."

"Ok then mom!" Linka cheerfully responds, "So can I go with Loni?!"

"Sure honey, if he's free today, I'm sure we can ask him." Rita then turns to face the stove, "But first, we gotta finish breakfast! You know the boys can't get anything done when they're hungry!"

"Heh, you got it mom!" Linka then grabs the eggs, and immediately gets to work. _"It's a good thing I learned how to cook back home, or else making ten different types of eggs in the same pan would be way harder!"_ after she quickly prepares her family's breakfast, she places thirteen plates on the shared table and gets to work setting it up.

"And here we go mom!" She holds up the plan and tilts it down, "Egg whites for Loni, sunny-side up for Luke." She pauses for a moment, "Punny side up for Lane, Scrambled for Lynn, fried for Levi, deviled eggs for the twins, hard boiled for Loki, and goo-goo gooey for Leon!" After that, she tosses the pan aside and declares, "I'll go find Loni now!"

"Go get him!" Rita chuckles, "And I'll see you at breakfast later."

"You got it mom!" Linka gives her a thumbs up, before turning and running out of the kitchen… only to run into her older comedian of a brother.

"Oh, hey Lane!" She cheerfully greets, "Have you seen Loni anywhere?"

Lana rubs his chin, "No, but maybe since it's **morning,** maybe he's in the **woods!"** then he throws his head back in laughter

"Seriously Lane?" Linka stares at the young man in disappointment, "That pun was just… bad." She turns and walks up the stairs with that, leaving Lane alone. "I'll just go look for Loni myself."

Lane lets out a deep breath; _"Yeah… at least he'll be there for you when you need him…"_ Before he walks into the kitchen, a dejected frown forming on his face.

* * *

"Loni!" Linka knocks on her eldest brother's door, "Where are you?!"

*Click* It goes, revealing Loki, an annoyed frown on his face, "Oh, hey Linka… Why are you here?"

"I'm just looking for Loni!" She declares, excitement filling her voice, "Do you know where he is?"

"No sis, sorry." He shakes his head in disappointment, causing the girl's perky smile to turn to a saddened frown. "He left earlier and I didn't ask him where he was going."

"Oh… ok then." She lets her arms go limp; "I was just hoping I could spend some time with him and stuff."

"Though…" Loki rubs his chin, "You could always check the yards or the garage." He looks down at his sister as he finishes, "He's usually workin' on something there."

"Really?!" Linka smiles, "Thanks Loki!" Then she throws her arms around him, and pulls the boy into a warm hug.

"No problem." Loki calmly responds, before pushing the young girl off him. Given his behavior the passed few days… Linka can't help but feel a bit… unnerved.

"You ok Loki?" The girl tilts her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Loki sighs, "Just trying to get used to the idea that you're… well, you." His voice goes low, "But hey… at least you're a better sister than our real one…" His voice trails off painfully.

"Thanks Loki." Linka smiles, before turning and running down the hall… only to run into a certain scientist boy.

"Oh, hey Levi." Linka quickly hops to her feet and helps her four-year-old brother up to his own, "I was just about to go lookin' for Loni."

"I see." The younger boy dusts himself off, "I was just wondering if you could help me with some inter-dimensional experiments and the like, given your interest in the subject."

Linka's voice fills with a motherly sadness, "I'm sorry Levi." She places her hand on his shoulder, "But I'm really busy today, maybe one of the guys could help you out."

Levi sighs, "All right then sis... ter, I'll ask one of our other brothers."

"Great!" She then gets back on her feet and rushes down the stairs, _"I gotta find Loni!"_

"Well, that's great…" Levi lets out another deep breath, _"Now where am I gonna find someone to discuss the next issue of the Adventures of Ace Savvy? He's fighting Aleister the Invoker in this one!"_

"I can help." Lars suddenly appears, causing the scientist to jump back in fear… right into the nearby Lynn Jr.'s arms.

The athlete looks at his little brother for a moment, while the young scientist puts on a sheepish smile, "Uhh bro, you mind?"

"I apologize." Levi jumps from his older brother's arms, and turns to Lars, "I would love to let you assist me today Lars." Levi adjusts his glasses, _"No I don't… but if I say no, he'll be suspicious… probably and would watch me from the vents."_ His voice fills with professionalism, "Are you sure though? Linka expresses more interest in this subject than you typically do."

" _Given what I've seen, I might as well."_ Lars shrugs, "I just completed a triple update weekend, brought a story off hiatus, and I'm exhausted. I wouldn't mind doing something else just to get my mind off the writing."

"Very well." Levi nods, before motioning for him to follow, "Come along now, we have science to complete!" And with that, the duo walks into the nearby room, _"Though… I wish Linka was here."_

"Well, that takes care of that I guess." Lynn adjusts his duffel bag, before turning… only for Loki to shout, "Hey Lynn. It's Saturday, where are ya going?"

Lynn's face turns red in embarrassment for a moment, before he looks away and rubs his head, "Just goin' to practice is all! No biggie."

Loki looks at Lynn with suspicious eyes for a moment, before shrugging, "Ok then, good luck and don't make too many messes!"

"Ok!" The younger boy steps down the stairs slowly, not breaking eye contact with his brother as he makes his way over to the door, and begins to feel for the knob.

"Oh, and one more thing." Loki's voice fills with a soft authority, "Try to come back sooner than usual, we have to plan for Linka's party after all!"

"You got it bro!" He puts on a pained smile, before turning and bolting out the door, allowing it to slam shut behind him. He leans against the red plank for a moment, before wiping the sweat building on his forehead, "Phew, that was a close one." He lets out a deep breath, _"I can't let them know yet… I just can't!"_

He looks up with that, causing his gaze to fall upon his young sister, shouting up a tree.

"Uhh, Linka, what are ya doin'?" He asks as he quickly walks over to his sister.

"Just trying to get Loni's attention." She then jumps up and climbs onto a branch, causing the boys eyes to look directly up her skirt… and for him to get a glance at the underwear Linka had decided to put on that day

Immediately, Lynn's nose begins to bleed… which he covers with his shirt. Frantically, he shouts, "Well ok then sis! If you need me, I'll be at practice." And before she can even respond, he runs off.

"Have fun, Lynn!" Linka shouts, before turning to her oblivious older brother, _"Now how the heck am I gonna get your attention, Loni…"_ Above her, a young man in a bright green button-down shirt hammers away at the bark at the top of the tree.

"Hey Loni!" Linka carefully balances herself on the tree branch, before holding onto the trunk and shouting once more, "Loni! Come on!"

And yet, her older brother continues to work with not a care in the world, as he chips away at the wood, seemingly to create a beautiful image… or something like that.

Linka sighs, _"It's been months since I climbed a tree like this… let's see if you still remember what Lynn and anime taught you, Lincoln."_ Then, she steels her nerves and takes a deep breath, before hardening her body, and jumping.

Her heart races as she floats in the air for a moment, one wrong motion causing her to plummet to the ground.

"G'ahh!" She shouts as her fingers wrap around the loose tree branch, " _Phew."_ She sighs in relief, before she pulling herself up onto the branch, _"Now I just need to climb the close ones."_ And that she does, easily climbing up the old oak tree's branches, eventually, bringer her to sit at eye-level with the young man.

"Hey Loni!" She shouts, though her brother responds by stopping and staring at the work he had created.

"What? You can talk?!" His voice fills with surprise.

Linka mentally facepalms, _"Right… he's Leni's counterpart."_ Before she takes a deep breath, "No Loni, it's your sister."

"You're my sister?!" He gasps, "I didn't know I had two sisters!"

"Dangit…" Linka whispers, before leaning over and tapping her brother, causing him to flinch in surprise.

"Huh?!" He quickly looks around, causing a small blue book to fall off the tree branch behind him. "Oh, hi Linka!" He greets, his voice filling with a cheerful surprise, "What are you doing up here?" then he motions towards the painting, "Did you know we had another sister?!"

" _Guide dang it Loni!"_ Linka takes a deep breath, "Loni, I'm your only sister. That's just a… whatever you made."

"Oh…" The young man's voice trails off, "Ok then!" he turns on his tree branch, "So why are ya here sis?"

"I just came to ask if you could take me to get my birthday dress. Ya know, since you've got a good eye for detail and stuff!" Linka's voice fills with a hopeful excitement, _"Especially since back home, Leni loved dresses."_

Loni rubs the back of his head, "I don't know sis… dresses aren't my thing ya know…" He looks away.

"Please Loni?" Linka puts her hands together to beg, as well as puts on puppy-dog eyes.

"Aww…" He stares into her cute eyes for a moment, "So cute!" Then he playfully taps her nose, much to the younger girl's dismay.

" _Dangit."_ Linka sighs, "Please Loni? If you go, I'm sure you'll find something great to design your wood stuff over!"

"I dunno Linka, I'm workin' on some wood art and I don't wanna mess this up…" Loni continues to rub the back of his head.

"There's churros at the mall." She leans closer to him.

The older boy hesitates for a moment, "Ok sis, I'll go with ya!" he perks up, "Anything for churros!" He then looks around, "All I need is my, uhh…"

He turns around, only to find the branch behind him empty, "Where's my notebook?"

Linka motions towards a small, light-green book on the ground below them, "You mean that one? It fell off when I tapped ya."

"Huh?" He looks down, allowing him to spot it, "Yeah!" Then, without hesitation, he drops down from his perch and lands on the ground below, unscathed, before he picks up the book, "Ok Linka, let's go!"

Linka then takes a deep breath, "Ok then…" she carefully gets up on her own feet, and looks down at her brother, _"The ground is so far away…"_ Her heart races in fear as she drops down and clings to the tree branch in fear.

"Linka, are you trying to, uhh… become friends with the tree?" He tilts his head in confusion.

The girl immediately shakes her head, "Uh-uh." She fearfully looks at him, "Loni… I'm stuck."

"Oh…" He chuckles, "Just let go then! That's how you get unstuck, right?"

"Yeah, but if I let go, I'm gonna fall bro!" Linka's voice fills with worry.

"Don't be afraid sis! Just because it's a long fall doesn't mean you're gonna get hurt!" He opens up his arms, revealing the slight dust on his body, "See? I jumped down but I'm fine!"

"But you've done that before, right?!" Linka holds on even tighter.

"Nope!" Loni laughs.

Linka stares at him, "But you're taller than me!"

Loni rubs his chin for a moment, before snapping his fingers, "I know! Just jump down and I'll catch ya sis!" He opens his arms out to receive his sister.

" _Just drop down Lincoln. Your brother will catch you."_ He takes a deep breath, before jumping from her tree perch and landing in Loni's caring arms.

"I got ya sis!" He declares, hugging his sister as he does so.

"Thanks bro." Linka smiles, before Loni starts to walk. "Uhh, bro…"

"What? I said I'd catch ya!" His voice is filled with a brotherly softness.

"Heh, ok then." She chuckles, _"He smells like cinnamon."_

And with that, Loni carries her inside, allowing them to quickly eat breakfast, before they head off to the Royal Woods Mall.

* * *

It takes them a few minutes of looking, but eventually they come across the discount bargain store, perfect for any clothing choices the young girl would need for the dress. They get inside, and start looking for the stuff… with Linka doing most of the picking, while Loni stands by, obviously getting antsy, though doing his best to stay quiet.

After a few minutes of looking around, the duo finishes the search by standing in front of the dressing rooms.

"Ok bro, I'll try on some of these dresses and you'll tell me what you think ok?" Linka takes on a pile of assorted dresses, before turning to Loni.

"You got it sis!" He rubs his chin and examines his sister's typical attire, "What you're wearing looks all right, but it's not too… out there when it comes to a party. It's casual, but you won't be attracting too many boys with it."

"Uhh Loni, I haven't tried a dress on yet." Linka chuckles, "Though I might change up what I usually wear if that's the case."

The young girl then walks into the changing room, and walks back out in a simply white dress. "Well, what do ya think bro?"

Loni rubs his chin for a moment, "Hmm, not sure about this sis. He takes a knee in front of her and begins to touch the dress, "It feels off, and doesn't go that well with you…" he stands up in front of her, "Plus, I feel like the fabric and design is more akin to a wedding gown rather than a birthday dress. Maybe you should save that for later."

"Wow Loni!" Linka's eyes go wide in surprise, "You're really good at this!"

"Huh?" Loni immediately puts on a pained smiles, "I mean uhh… it looks good on ya sis! I just think uhh, you should try something else!"

"Loni?" Linka flatly goes.

"Yeah?" He looks away.

"Are you trying to hide something?" She continues, putting her hands on her hips as she does so.

"Nuh-uh." The older boy shakes his head, "How about you try on another dress sis?"

Linka looks at him suspiciously for a moment, before turning around and walking back into the changing room. A few more minutes pass, before she walks out, this time wearing an elegant black dress with a poufy bottom, as well as and overdone neck cover. "How about this one bro?"

"It makes you look like a queen of darkness sis." He leans in closer, "Doesn't look too comfortable for a birthday dress. In fact, I could see Lars wearing this if he were a girl." He stands back, "Though, I like the black contrast you have with your white hair… hmmm…"

" _Wow…"_ Linka thinks, before her brother shakes his head, "I mean, it looks nice, but I think it's too dark for my bright sister!" His voice fills with naive cheerfulness.

"Loni…" Linka tilts her head in confusion. "Why are you doing that?"

"Doing what sis?" The boy puts on a pained smile.

"Telling me what you think of the dress and then giving a simple opinion?" she finishes, "It's not really necessary bro."

"I don't know what you're talkin' about!" The young man grabs his sister's shoulders and turns her around, "How about you try on the next dress sis?" Then he pushes her back into the dressing room.

" _What's Loni hiding from?"_ Linka thinks as she puts on the next dress- this one is simple, but is decorated with rainbows and comes with a matching set of rainbow leggings, _"Leni loved fashion back home! And Loni seems to like it here…"_ And with that thought in mind, she walks back out to meet her brother.

Loni stands by one of the mirrors, admiring a shirt he had just found.

"Hey Loni." Linka greets.

Immediately, the young man turns around, hiding the article of clothing behind his back, "Hey Linka, you got the next dress?"

" _He's definitely hiding something."_ She thinks, before nodding, "You got it bro!" She strikes a pose, "What do you think?"

"I think it looks like someone puked rainbows all over you." He steps back, "I feel like it makes you look too much like an activist for a birthday dress." He pauses and thinks for a moment, "I mean-"

But before he can even finish his sentence, his sister cuts him off with, "Got it bro!" then, she turns around and runs.

The young man sighs, and pulls the shirt from his back, as his father's words echo in his mind, _"Son… fashion is for girls!"_ He clutches the hanger and sighs, _"I can't let Linka…"_ His mind trails off.

"Ok Loni, how about this one?" Linka shows off her next dress, a purple one with a burning skull on it, as well as an accompanying guitar.

"Great if you want to hang out at one of Luke's concerts, but doesn't really seem to fit you sis." Loni rubs his head, "I mean-"

Linka quickly runs away and changes into her next dress- this one is light blue, and comes with a plastic cell phone to complete the look, "And this one?"

" _Reminds me of what Loki used to be like…"_ Loni shakes his head, "Nope, the light blue and white just doesn't look too good sis, maybe you should try something else."

"Got it!" Linka then jumps up and quickly changes into her next dress- this one is light green and has white highlights, as well as a set of sunglasses attached.

"Hmm… I like the look, but it just doesn't suit you sis." He rubs his chin, "I find it very flattering though…" He shakes his head, "I mean-"

Linka snaps her fingers, "I know!" She runs back into the changing room and comes back out, this time wearing a simple orange dress, "How about this one Loni?"

Loni leans in closer to her for a moment, scrutinizing every detail the dress has for a short moment, before smiling, "I think it's perfect sis!" He feels the fabric for a moment, "It breathes, and looks great! I think you should wear this one for your birthday!"

" _Heh, of course. Orange is my favorite color."_ She smiles, "Great!" before she hugs her brother, before going back inside and changing back into her own clothes. And a few minutes after that, they pay for her birthday dress and begin the long walk home.

* * *

It's past afternoon when they enter the town square. That's when Linka notices Loni looking in the windows of the clothing stores they pass by.

"Hey Loni…" Linka starts.

"Yeah sis?" Loni continues to gaze into the windows of the nearby stores.

"I was just wondering…" The girl rubs the back of her head awkwardly, "Do you like fashion?"

Immediately, Loni shakes his head and quickly responds, "Nope! I hate fashion! I uhh, I love working on wood and stuff! I'm gonna be a carpenter when I graduate college!" He awkwardly holds his arms in front of him, before speeding up his step, leaving his sister behind. _"I'm probably gonna flunk college…"_ He shakes his head, _"No. I'm gonna pass!"_

"Hey!" She quickly gives chase, "I just wanna know cause you never talk about it, but you seem to be really good at figuring out what looks good and stuff." Then she motions towards the stores they walk passed, "And you seem really interested in what those stores are selling."

"I'm all right sis." He cheerfully declares, "I'm just, uhh… curious and stuff!" He gives her an overly pained smile in response.

"Uh-huh…" The duo continues to walk, though once they reach the end of the square, the older boy's phone goes off. He immediately picks up and goes, "Huh? Ok, I'll be there!"

"Who was that Loni?" Linka tilts her head towards him.

"That was my uhh…" he hesitates, "My friend from woodshop! I gotta go, so can I trust you to go home on your own?"

Linka nods, "Of course bro!" She flares her arms up, "Go have fun!"

"Thanks Linka!" The young man, goes, before running off.

" _I'm totally gonna follow him."_ She thinks, before checking to make sure her dress is secure. Wordlessly, she chases after her brother; _"I have to find out why he's acting so nervous about this stuff!"_

It takes her a few minutes to catch up to the young man, but she manages, even with the load that the dress is. Then in order to make sure she is hidden well enough, she hides behind some nearby bushes, as she watches her brother.

" _What is he doing?"_ Linka thinks as she watches her brother go inside a small store with the sign reading, "Alice's fashion design".

" _I should go…"_ She shakes her head, _"Bad idea Link, that's how you get caught."_ She calms herself, _"I just wish I could inside to see all the pretty dresses!"_ Linka shakes her head again, "Nope! I've done enough shopping for the day! I am done!"

She leans back against the bush and takes a deep breath, "I just gotta wait for him to come out and stuff, and then everything's gonna be fine…" She sighs, before going back to the bush top, only to spot Loni walking out of said store, this time carrying a small, pink box.

" _Interesting…"_ Linka quickly hops the bush and gives chase, making sure to cling to the walls in an attempt to remain hidden… though anyone, besides Loni, could tell she was just out in the open acting like one of the action heroes in the moves.

More quiet following passes, before Linka spots Loni walking up to the front door of a small, pink home and knocking on the door. A few short moments pass, before a young woman opens up and motions for the young man to enter.

" _Now this is interesting!"_ Linka quickly rushes up the side of the home, before hopping the fence and hiding under the window to the living room, _"I wonder what he's gonna do here."_

She then pulls herself up to eye-level with the window, allowing her to peek inside the home. Inside, she catches a glimpse of random girls, simply talking in front of several complete dresses, _"What the… Loni…"_

"Hey Loni!" One of the girls throws her arms up and hugs him.

"Hey Janet!" The young man responds, before holding up the box, "I got the materials you asked for!" Then he goes into his pocket and pulls out the small notebook from earlier, "And I've got plenty of designs to work on!"

"That's great!" The young woman responds, "How about you join us and work on it?"

"I'd love to!" Loni goes, before he and the other girls takes their seats at the table and begin working on his newest designs.

Linka watches in awe as the random fabrics and strings, come together to create a new article of clothing. _"Wow!"_

"And done!" Loni declares, before he holds up the new dress. It's orange with enough frills to drown in! No doubt something like it would sell for a ton if they decide to put it up for sale.

" _Wow! That looks better than the dress we bought today!"_ The girl looks on in awe for a moment, before Loni speaks, "Girls! I think this is perfect! Linka's gonna love this birthday dress!"

" _It's for me?! He really is this dimension's Leni!"_ Linka cheerfully thinks as she watches Loni talk to the girls just a bit more, before packing up his newly created dress and walking out of the home.

" _I guess that's what Loni does in his free time…"_ Linka smiles, and chuckles for a moment, before the realization hits her, _"Wait… why didn't he want to tell me why he was so good at fashion?"_

Linka watches as Loni turns back to the home for a moment and sighs, before securing the box to his back and shoving the notebook in his pocket once more. Without another word, the young man simply walks down the road.

" _That's not the way home… I gotta talk to him."_ The girl then chases after her brother. Quietly, she follows him through the town of Royal Woods, making sure that her oblivious brother wouldn't notice the shadow on his tail. And eventually, she finds him sitting on a hill, overlooking the town.

The moon glows brightly over the young man, as he sits down next to a small fire pit. He pulls out a lighter and drops some twigs in the pile, before setting it alight.

" _What's he doing?"_ Linka watches closely.

Loni sits at the cliffside for a moment, before carefully looking around, the feeling of someone watching him crawls upon his back. Yet, after a few short minutes of searching, he comes up empty, _"I'm alone… that's great."_ He sighs, _"Time to get back to work."_ And with that, he begins to scribble in the notebook.

"So I guess this is where he goes when he's not home at night…" Linka then steps out from the bushes, quietly stalking her brother as if she were a predator and he was her prey.

"Dangit…" Loni sighs, before tearing a page out of the small blue notebook from earlier. Then, he crumples up the paper, before throwing it in a small fire he had made nearby, no doubt destroying them.

When she's only a few feet away from the young man, the young girl speaks up, "H-hey Loni!"

Immediately, Loni jumps up in shock and hides the book behind his back. "H-hey Linka, what're you doin' here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Linka tilts her head in curiosity. "I was just around here and stuff, and saw you." She motions towards the fire pit, "So uhh… whatcha' doin'?"

Loni puts on a pained smile, "Oh nothing, just uhh… working on designs for a new bedframe and stuff!" He begins to sweat. "You know, carpeting and stuff takes time!"

"Loni…" Her voice trails off, before she simply spits out, "I saw what you were doing a few minutes ago." She picks up one of the papers that had missed the nearby fire.

"You… you did?!" His voice fills with fear.

"Yeah." She uncrumples the paper and gazes upon the majestic design her brother had created, no doubt of the next dress he would make. Her eyes go wide in shock as she declares, "This is amazing Loni!" She holds the paper up to him, "Why are you hiding this?!"

"Oh no reason just, I don't think it's that good!" Loni's pained smile fills with fear.

Linka looks at the young man with begging eyes, "Please Loni, tell me why you're hiding this. I know you're great at design!" She steps closer to the young man and hugs him, "Please tell me why…"

" _I… I have to tell her…"_ For a moment, Loni hesitates, his heart racing in fear, before he sighs in defeat, "Because dad… and the guys would think I'm weird and stuff!"

"What do you mean?" Linka tilts her head in curiosity.

"A while back, I decided to try my hand at designing things." He pulls the notebook out from behind his back, "And I found out I'm great at it!" he lets outa deep breath. "But dad told me only girls go into fashion design… So to appease dad and not seem too… girly to be one of his sons, I decided to try my hand at wood working… and well, I'm ok with it…"

Linka goes into the nearby box, "You should go into fashion!" She holds up the completed dress from before, "This is great! You can sell this too!"

"Linka…" Loni sighs in defeat, "I'm not an idiot. I know I'm an idiot!"

The girl pauses for a second, mulling over the phrasing, "What do you mean?"

"I guess you saw the girls, right?" He asks and the girl nods. He takes another breath, "They told me I could be the next Calvin Klein or Max Azria… heck, I've lost count of how many awards I won the club after the eighth…"

He holds up his two, four-fingered hands. "But… I just feel like I'd be nothing more than an embarrassment to mom and dad if I did try to do more fashion stuff!"

"But, why would making money be embarrassing?!" Linka flares her arms up for emphasis, "I'm sure if-"

"Linka… I've thought of that." Loni sighs again, "But none of it matters if I don't know how to do business. I know how to buy, that's easy… but I can't figure out the first thing about selling! All these talks about trademark, contracts, grossness and paperwork go right over my head, and everyone I talk to knows that." He looks away shamefully, "They know I'm stupid about everything except actually making the clothes…" He looks down upon the small blue notebook in his hands, "I know anyone I share my designs with just steal from me. Heck, I've seen my designs being passed off in contests before, and I can never prove it because 'I get confused easily'." He throws his arms up in defeat.

"Loni…" Linka looks the young man in the eyes, "You're not stupid." She pulls him into another hug, "You just need to find the right person to help you… And I'm sure you'll find someone!"

"Linka…" his voice trails off.

"And if you're worried about dad and the guys making fun of you or being disappointed for unmanly things? Loni, I think you should see something." Linka then lets go and grabs his arm.

"Linka…" Loni tilts his head in curiosity, as his sister then pulls him, though they make sure to grab the two dresses.

* * *

She guides him through the town and over to a small building, where a young brown-haired boy is practicing his own art.

"This is a secret. And keep it a secret that I'm the one who showed you this." She whispers, before motioning towards the glass plane, "Lynn does ballet."

Loni tilts his head in confusion, "Ballet? What's that?"

"He dances and stuff." Linka calmly answers, motioning Loni to look through the venue's glass window.

Inside, Lynn practices the same move he had show Linka just days prior, no doubt working to perfect it just as any determined artist would.

"Why doesn't he tell anyone?" Loni asks, his gaze falling upon his younger brother.

"The same reason you don't tell anyone about doing fashion design." Linka smiles, "He says he does all those sports because he's worried people are gonna say he's not too manly."

"You're not alone Loni." Linka finally goes.

"Tha-thanks Linka…" Loni then quietly walks into the venue and approaches his brother.

Linka simply watches as Loni walks up to Lynn.

"Hey Lynn." The older boy greets.

Immediately, Lynn's face goes red, as he breaks his concentration and falls to the floor.

"Haha, you ok bro?" The young man offers his hand.

"L-Loni?!" Lynn immediately stumbles to his feet and steps back in surprise, "Wha-what are you doing here?!"

Loni smiles, "I uhh…" he glances at the window, allowing him to see Linka watching the scene unfold. "I uhh… saw you in the window and just uhh…"

"Linka told you, didn't she." Lynn simply looks at his brother and crosses his arms in annoyance.

"Yes…" He nods, "She told me talking to you would be a good idea because you like girly things too…"

Lynn's expression softens and he raises his eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

For a moment, Loni hesitates, _"Should I tell him? I mean… Linka said what he's doing is girly too…"_ Yet, before he can finish his thoughts, his body rubs his arm and he answers, "I like fashion design…"

"What?" Lynn tilts his head in confusion.

"I like making clothes…" His voice trails off painfully. "I'm sorry if I…"

Yet, before he can finish, Lynn smiles, and hugs his brother, "Don't worry about it bro." Then, he lets go and grabs his arm, now let's talk to Linka."

Loni nods, and with that, the duo walks out of the venue.

"Hey Linka." The younger boy greets.

"Hey Lynn." Linka smiles, "I was just uhh-"

"You know Loni's a bad actor right?" Lynn cuts her off with a smile

Linka chuckles, before rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, "Yeah… sorry I spilled your secret bro." She looks at him with caring eyes, "Loni just really needed someone he could relate to."

"It's fine sis." He smiles, "I don't like you spilled my secret, but I'm glad you did… after all, it's nice knowing I'm not the only boy in the family that likes 'girly' things." And with that, he turns and walks back into the venue, "Anyways sis, I'm gonna go back to practice, I've got that recital in a few weeks… I'll be headin' hom in an hour or so."

"Got it." Linka smiles with that, before taking Loni's hand in her own, turning, and walking home, no doubt Loni would come around more often.

 _ **Later…**_

Linka and Loni tiredly walk into the Loud House with, "Hey guys, I'm home!"

"And we have the dress!" Loni declares, before looking at Linka, "You sure you wanna use the one I made?"

The girl nods, "Of course bro, you worked hard on it, and I'd hate to see it go to waste!"

"Ok then." The boy smiles, "Thanks."

"No probs bro."

"Hey kids!" Rita walks into the living room, a bright smile on her face, "How did the shopping go?"

The young girl responds by pulling Loni's orange dress from its box, "We got my birthday dress!"

Rita smiles as she takes it in her hands, "This looks amazing Linka! Did Loni help you pick it out?"

"You know it!" Loni pumps his arm in front of him, "It only took us three hours to find it!" While he thinks, _And twenty minutes for me to make it with the girls!"_

"I'll go ahead and wash it now." Rita then takes the dress in her arms, "We don't need the boys getting this thing dirty, do we?"

"Nope!" Linka chuckles, and with that, their mother walks into the kitchen and down into the basement.

*Yawn* Loni goes, stretching his arms as he does so, "Anyways, thanks for the great day Linka."

"Don't mention it bro." She hugs him, "Anything to help my brothers!"

Loni returns the hug before continuing, "I'll go to bed now, goodnight sis!"

"Goodnight bro!" And with that, Loni walks up the Loud House stairs… only to pass by the young scientist and three other brothers.

Levi calmly steps down the stairs and stares at Linka with unsure eyes, before he runs over and pulling her into a hug.

"Huh…" She nervously returns the hug, "What's wrong Levi?"

"Li-Lincoln?" He whispers. "Is… is it true? You're… not my sister?"

Linka looks up at the three brothers waiting behind Levi, _"Did they tell him?"_

After a moment of waiting, Luke speaks up, "He knows Linka." he sighs, "Your Levi opened a portal allowing her to talk to us, and well, Levi found out the truth."

"Dangit…" Linka whispers, before sighing in defeat. She lets go of Levi and squats down to his height. _"Should I lie to… no, that's a bad idea."_ She hesitates for a moment, before taking a deep breath and answering, "Yes Levi, it's true."

Levi, the typically stoic child prodigy, stands by for a moment, a rush of the emotions that he had for long since repressed quickly overtaking him, as tears begin to fall from his eyes.

"Levi…" Linka's voice trails off.

Yet, before she can say anything else, he pulls her into another hug, unable to hold himself back anymore.

The girl wordlessly returns the hug, before looking up at her brothers and asking, "Who else knows now?"

"From what we could see, all of your sisters, and well, our Linka." Loki's voice fills with a commanding strength.

"Double dangit…" Linka whispers, before lifting Levi and moving him to the couch, "So… I guess things are getting more complicated huh?"

"Very." Lars calmly, "I have a feeling that the climax to a story is coming soon." He shrugs, "This is how I'd write it."

"Well, at least things can't get any worse, right?" Linka looks at Luke for an answer.

And the young man simply shrugs, "I dunno."

*Ding* *Dong* the doorbell goes, before Luke goes to answer, revealing the four former hunters.

"Nyla? What are you doing here?" Linka asks.

Nyla looks at her ex-hunter companions for a moment, "We think Lyle has the final fragment."

"What?!" Linka shouts in fear, "Where did she go?!"

"A beacon was lit, and she ran with what she called the 'Component'." Nell declares, "We tried to fight her but… She ran away." The young woman then holds onto the twins, "Though… at least she didn't fight us, or `I wouldn't know what I'd do if these two go hurt."

"Nell!" The twins shout as the older girl pulls them into a small hug.

" _This is bad!"_ Linka frantically thinks, before letting out a deep breath, "All Right then, for now, we'll just have to work on figuring out where she went." She turns to her brothers, "Let me help Levi first…"

Levi looks at the girl for a moment, "What?"

"Levi… the truth is your sister is a full-blown arse that doesn't deserve you." Linka flatly declares.

"I… I told you what I like…" Levi whispers.

"I know." Linka places a hand on his shoulder, "And I know you're gonna need time to digest this ok? So please, go to bed and try to sleep it off, I'll explain more later."

Levi hesitates for a moment, but simply sighs when he looks into his sister's begging and caring eyes, "Ok…" He then hops to his feet and slowly makes his way up the stairs to his room.

"As for you guys…" Linka turns to the hunters, "What are our options?"

"We could always wait around for her to come back…" Nyla's looks away, "Or we could infiltrate the base."

"Both sound crazy…" The younger girl sighs, "How about for now, we go to sleep and try to figure out how to deal with this some other time?"

Loki then speaks up, "I think that's a good idea. It'll be easier to figure things when we're rested."

"Ok then." Nyla goes.

And with that they break off for the night, with Linka going up to her own room… only to find a certain man waiting for her.

"Hello William." Linka looks at the guardian.

The guardian stares at her, "You are aware that your actions, or should I say inactions, have caused the final fragment to be lost to the anomaly hunters?!"

"Yeah, I know." Linka responds, "But don't worry, I'll get them back soon enough."

"For the sake of your multiverse, I hope you do." And with that, he disappears just as abruptly as he appeared.

"Yeah, I hope." And with that, she gets in her bed, and sleeps the night away.

12-25-12-5 1-14-4 12-9-14-11-1 8-1-22-5 1-14-14-15-25-5-4 20-8-5 7. 15. 4.. 9 23-15-21-12-4 8-15-23 20-8-5-25'12-12 4-5-1-12 23-9-20-8 20-8-9-19 20-23-9-19-20!

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed Loni's chapter! Only 1 brother remains now, I wonder who can guess who it is! In other news, I've taken "Unwavering Bonds" off hiatus!**


	27. The Clown's Stage

**A/N Ahh, 27 weeks have passed. It's official. I've been writing this for half a year! I can't believe it's been this long since I started! But hey, time flies when you're having fun, and this has been the most fun story I've ever written!**

 **As always, R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Lane and Linka finally find out why Lane makes dirty jokes so much! (Planned).**_

Story twenty-Seven: The Clown's Stage

"Lisa! What the heck was that?!" Lori grabs her little sister and pulls her up by the shirt, "Why the heck did you say she could stay?!" She points at the nearby stairway, knowing that her current brother would be unable to hear her screaming.

Yet, despite the obvious threat of violence, Lisa doesn't break her composure, choosing instead to respond, "What? Did you not understand the very obvious hint that she's fully willing to maim, cripple, or disfigure herself if it means that Lincoln will be the one who has to live in such a body instead of herself once we switch them back?"

"What do you mean?" Lori continues, her furious gaze unwavering against her four-year-old sister.

"I mean what I said." Lisa counters, "You remember the groundhog day loop? Imagine if you will you had the ability to do whatever you wished without consequences. Only instead of knowing the consequences will disappear the next day, you could simply pass them onto someone else."

Lori drops Lisa in shock. "You're saying…"

Lisa quickly looks at her waiting sisters, "Linka has such an ability right now and she knows it. She knows we want our real brother back, and if such is achieved then everyone's minds go back to where they should be. And so, save for lethal damage, she doesn't have to worry what she does to our brothers body since she'll be put back into a fit and healthy body soon enough, while Lincoln is the one who will have to suffer from her actions for the rest of his life.

The young woman thinks for a moment, before sighing in defeat, "Ok then…" She looks into Lisa's eyes with a begging gaze, "So what can we do?"

"We have a few options, for one we can take the risk and not take her demands…" Lisa looks away, her voice going low; no doubt she wanted to inch away from that idea.

"Not happening." Luna declares, "We don't want Lincoln's life ruined."

Lisa continues, "We could try to bring Lincoln here, but with the ever growing anomalies..."

"Anything else?" Lynn speaks up with that.

The young scientist simply sighs, "Just wait and hope Lincoln figures out a way to get home… though…" She rubs the back of her head, "I think there is another option."

The girls perk up, "What is it?"

"I could talk to my counterpart about creating a bridge between worlds. One that would allow us to go there and come back with Lincoln." She lets out a deep breath, "The device I have can generate unstable portals, but after the first usage, I'm not sure if it'll be a way back."

"So a bridge between worlds?" Lori repeats.

"Yes." Lisa nods, "What do you girls think?"

The sisters look at each other, before simply remaining silent, unsure of which option to take.

Finally, Lucy breaks the silence, "Girls, I want my brother back, and the imposter that has been ruining his life to go away."

And slowly, each and every sister nods in agreement, even Lily for that matter.

"Very well." Lisa turns to the twins, "I need you to get me the device I asked you to hide last month." Determination fills her body, "We're going to go save our brother."

The girls nod, before running upstairs.

"What do you need us to do?" Lori steps forward, her voice too filling with determination.

"I need you and Leni to distract Linka at all costs." She looks away, "We cannot allow her to find out that we're gonna try to switch them back."

Lori and Leni look at each other for a moment and nod, before they too run upstairs.

"And what about us?" Luna then steps forward, eliciting a similar response from Lisa, "This time, I need you two to get me some materials, a dimensional bridge is going to need certain parts on both ends."

"Well this is gonna be Pun!" Luan throws her head back in laughter, before the tow sisters run upstairs as well.

Lisa then looks at Lynn and Lucy, "As for you two, I need you to assist me in this project, it will be difficult to construct on my own.

"You got it." Lynn raises her thumb, "So where do we start?"

"With Lab coats." Lisa hands a set over to the duo, "Let's save our brother."

And with that, the sisters get to work.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Lincoln sits in his room, his broken and leg still in the cast the doctors had put on all those months ago.

"Well this is just great." She whispers, crossing her arms as she does so, "Those girls know I'm not really their brother." She lets out a breath, "And I was just getting around to enjoying this place too!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice calls out, "You've disappointed me Linka." Before an old man appears before the young boy.

"Hey Bill." Lincoln nonchalantly greets, "What's up?"

The old man pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment, before responding, "Nothing on my end, but it seems you've gone and balls upped everything you were supposed to be doing on your end!"

"What are you talking about?" Lincoln quickly counters, "I didn't screw up! I'm distracting the girls just like you asked me to!"

"You showed me you wanted to be able to live your life here, with these girls rather than the boys you used to have." He looks him in the eyes, "Now what possible life could you have here if you have to force the others to bend to her whims on threat of harming yourself?" He looks away in annoyance, "I expected you to distract them by other means, but this isn't working out."

For a moment, the young boy hesitates, before smiling, "You're right."

"I know I am." William immediately responds, crossing his arms as he does so.

"But, if you hold up your end of the bargain, you could use the power you promised me to find me a new world. One were I'm a real girl again, surrounded by sisters who would treat me the way I want without complaint. A perfect world!" his voice fills with a naïve hope.

William looks at her for a moment, his expression seemly indifferent to her request, and yet, seemingly like he is ready to tear into what she is saying. "I won't quit my deal. But if you are unable to hold up your end, then I will not hesitate to cancel our little arrangement, do I make myself clear?"

"You got it." Lincoln doesn't hesitate to counter, raising his thumb as he does so.

And with that, William disappears just as abruptly as he arrived… only for Lori and Leni to step into the room after that.

"Hey girls?" He tilts his head in confusion, "What's with the wide smiles?"

Lori quickly responds, "We just wanna make sure our new 'sister' feels comfortable while she's recovering?"

Leni immediately breaks, "I thought we were doing this because Lisa told us to?" she turns to her older sister in confusion.

"Yeah!" Lori immediately covers Leni's mouth, "We were doing that because we wanted you to feel comfortable and stuff! And because Lisa told us it'd be a good idea to try to get to know our new sibling better!"

Lincoln looks at the duo in suspicion for a moment… though she doesn't notice the twins run from their room.

"So do you want anything… Liberty?" She continues.

The boy rubs his chin for a moment, before answering, "How about some chicken noodle soup? I've been craving some all day and no one's gotten me any!"

"Ok then!" Lori grabs Leni's arm, "Comin' right up!" And with that, the duo runs from the room.

"Heh, I could get used to this." Lincoln chuckles. "Ten sisters that do whatever I tell them to." And with that he smiles.

* * *

"And with this, ladies and gentlemen, I, the amazing Lane Loud and my partner, Performage Trapeze Magician here, will complete our amazing balancing act!" Lane slams a card into a small wrist dealer, causing GLaDOS to respond, _**Generating Action Field: Entertainment Coliseum!**_

And immediately, the simple yard around them turns into a massive circus tent, with Lane and his magician partner standing at the top of two trapeze towers, and the children he had been hired to entertain looking on in awe.

"We thank you for your time!" Lane shouts, before jumping, grabbing hold of one of the bars and swinging, while his hardlight partner does the same.

Then, as the duo nears the center of the arc, they let go, back flip passed each other, and grab hold of the opposing bars, allowing them to continue the swing, while amazing their audience.

The children cheer in excitement as both the clown and Lane take their bows; the mini ARC system disables itself with that, "Thanks!"

Lane then turns and walks backstage with that. And he wastes no time packing up, "Ahh, that was fun, just made two hundred putting on that show." He smiles, "I'll be able to give Linka her anonymous present like I do every year… and the small trinket she pays no mind to…" He tears up ever so slightly at the idea of her sister, _"At least I won't disappoint her if she doesn't expect much…"_

"Hello there!" A well-dressed man greets, causing Lane to turn to him.

"Hi there." He nonchalantly responds, "What brings you back here mister?"

"I just saw your high-flying act and I wanted to know if I could book you on short notice. You see, I'm the owner of Dairyland and I am hosting an investor party." The man awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "You see, I have a party, but my booked entertainment decided to cancel on me early, so I currently out on a limb."

Lane looks back at his supplies and continues working, "I'm sorry, but I'm booked all week and tomorrow's my only day off." His voice remains nonchalant.

"Even if I offer you double the amount I was going to pay them?" The man continues, his voice getting ever so slightly desperate.

"Oh?" Lane turns back to him, "How much are we talkin' here?"

The man responds by pulling out a paper and handing it to them.

He quietly takes and opens it up. He fights the urge to let his eyes go wide in shock. "Huh, well that's a lot of cheddar mate." He chuckles, "I could probably get my mom and sis something real nice with this."

"Ha! Someone must've done something wrong if he's willing to spending Fifteen thousand dollars on his mother and sister!"

" _Yeah… I failed my sister…"_ Lane rubs back of head and looks away slightly downcast, "Yeah I… wait… fifteen 'thousand' dollars?" he turns the paper to face him, "This only says five hundred."

The man quickly takes it from him, "Oh? Let me see…" He quickly writes in the number, "I apologize, I forgot the one and a zero." He hands it back with, "So will you perform your high flying act for those people tomorrow?"

"S-sure!" Lane's voice fills with nervousness, while he screams internally with excitement, "Just tell me where and when!"

Quickly, the man pulls out another piece of paper and scribbles down his notes, "Here, please come early so you can set up."

"You got it sir!" He responds with a thumbs up, and with that, the man walks away.

After that, Lane quickly finishes packing his things, before rushing his way home, his mind focused on everything that he needed to do next, _"I need new props! New jokes! I need... I need an assistant!"_ He quickly pulls out his phone, _"I'll just call Chuckles and… no wait he'll, want half the cheese himself. What am I saying?! That's still seven grand dumbarse… nah wait… he's still mad at me for looking at his big sisters whoopee cushions… not my fault she was holding them to her chest…"_ He looks up at his home, " _I'll just have to ask the guys."_

The young man brings his stuff into the home with that. " _Ok, lets see, Loki... he'll turn it into a drill routine. Loni... would join the crowd... Luke, no… Lynn I don't know what he would do but I'm not risking it. Lars would just scare everyone, Leif would get everything dirty. The last time I tried Lexx, he made the show all about him and Levi's always too busy!"_

He mentally checks his options with that. _"That leaves… Linka…"_ He shakes his head, _"Nope! Not asking her, I am not gonna risk her getting her again!"_

He then sighs in defeat, "I better ask the guys." His eldest brother walks in the room with that. "Hey Loki could you-"

Loki immediately responds, "Nope, still looking for the entertainment for Linka's party next week."

"Oh… ok then." Lane puts on a soft smile before walking up the stairs, leaving his supplies by the door.

" _Dangit…"_ He walks upstairs, _"Whatever, he'd screw everything up and probably set everything on fire anyways."_ He then walks up to his next brother, "Hey Loni, would you mind helping me with something tomorrow?"

"Sorry Lane, I'm busy with Lynn tomorrow! He's gonna show me how to break wood with my legs!" Loni cheerfully replies, before walking into his own room.

" _Dangit… I guess that crosses Lynn and Loni off the list."_ Lane then turns, coming face-to-face with his roommate, "Hey Luke could you-"

"I just heard what you asked Loni, and while I normally would bro, I'm really busy with my own gig tomorrow. Sorry." Luke's hair was no longer cut up into spikes, instead heaving been neatly combed and cut, giving him a more casual haircut.

Immediately, Lane walks into the middle room, "Hey Lars could you-"

"No." The Goth boy responds, before simply disappearing.

In his desperation, lane runs into the twins' room, "Hey guys could you-"

And Leif immediately responds with, "No!" while Lexx responds with, "I'll go check."

Lane's heart races in nervousness, before he turns and bolts into the room across from that one.

"Levi! I really need you to-" He falls to his knees in desperation.

"I apologize brother, but I am currently working on an inter-dimensional bridge with on of my counterparts." The scientist continues working on a component, "Why don't you ask Linka? I don't think she's busy tomorrow."

"No…" lane quietly whispers, before walking over to the nearby crib, "What about you Leon?"

The baby responds by playfully slapping him and cheering, "Poo-poo!"

Lane sighs in defeat, before placing his baby brother back in his crib and slowly walking out of the room, _"Great… what am I gonna do now?!"_

That's when Linka walks over and greets, "Hey Lane. What's wrong? Anything I can do to help?

The young man's heart races in fear, _"Oh no, I can't-"_

"I heard you needed help with something, and well…" She smiles, "I'm free tomorrow, so what do ya say?!" The young girl exudes a soft joy and hope.

Lane immediately turns around and puts on a sheepish smile, "Nope, everything's a-ok Linka! Just gonna do some stuff with my guy friends!"

The girl tilts her head in curiosity, "You sure Lane? You seem nervous…"

"Yep!" The boy nervously responds. "Looking into her eyes as he does so.

That's hen Lexx walks over and declares, "Sorry Lane I can' help ya tomorrow, I'm busy too."

" _Dangit."_ Lane thinks. _"Why couldn't you wait until after Linka had walked away?!"_

Linka looks Lane in the eyes with that, "Well if your asking Lexx, that must mean you've been turned down by everyone else."

Lexx turns to his sister and shouts, "Hey!" While flaring his arms up, "What's wrong with me?!"

"Nothin' bro, you can just be hard to work with sometimes." The girl ruffles her little brothers hair playfully, before turning back to her elder brother, "So what do you need help with? An act? I'm free. I can totally help."

Lane immediately rubs the back of his head, "Well uhh… You see…"

"Do you think I can't do it?" Linka puts her hands on her hips in annoyance, "Is that why you don't want me to perform with ya?"

Lane and Lexx's eyes widen as the other boys peek out of their rooms.

Frantically, Lane waves his arms in front of him, "No! I mean yes! I mean I don't-"

Linka cuts him off, "Did you not see me whoop Chandler's butt in the duel monsters tournament?" She then counts on her fingers, "Then there's my job, the camping trip were I seem to remember owning more than one of you..."

The boys wince, the memories of their sister- they'd expected to be 'the load' the entire trip- proving herself to not be a terrible camper quickly resurfacing.

"What more do I have to do to show you I'm more than capable of helping ya bro?" Linka looks at Lane with begging eyes.

"Well uhh…" Lane nudges Lexx in fear.

And the six-year-old responds by declaring, "I'll let you handle this lane." Before running off.

Linka continues, "Well? Come on Lane, tell me!"

Lane sighs in defeat, "Fine... I need someone to act as my assistant for a very important show, but I'm not sure who to ask."

The girl's eyes go wide, "Really?!"

The young man rubs the back of his head, "Yeah, and I know how much you…"

The girl cuts him off again, "That's great! What's the act? What do I need to know?"

"What?!" Lane's eyes go wide in shock.

"Well who else is gonna say yes? Or now that I've volunteered do they suddenly find their plans have been canceled?"

Silence overtakes the hall.

"No? Well it looks like you're stuck with me." Linka shrugs.

Lane puts on a sheepish smile, "Great!" Before ducking into his room, " _Dangit, I didn't want her to be there! Why is she so keen on acting with me?! Why isn't she going away?!"_

"Well that sure was something bro." Luke quips.

"Why does she wanna spend time with me so much, Luke?!" The young man turns to his slightly older brother, "I screwed up so much! I make jokes to push her away!"

Luke hesitates on his answer for a moment, before sighing, "Maybe it's cause she really wants to spend time with ya bro, I mean, she has spent time with all of us… except you mate."

"But…" Lane looks away in shame, "What happened to her?"

"I'm sure she's forgiven ya mate." Luke smiles, before patting his little brother's head, "Now why don't ya go and explain what you need her to do tomorrow? After all, you and that Trapeze magician will have a bad time if your assistant can't assist ya!"

Lane sighs in defeat, "Ok Luke…" And with that, he turns and walks out of the room.

Slowly, he makes his way over to the converted linen closet his sister called her room, before taking a deep breath, _"Why does she want to be around me so much? I failed her when she needed me most!"_ Suddenly, his mind fills with a certain memory he had been doing his best to repress… the memory of _**that**_ day."

 _ **Six years earlier…**_

"We'll be home later Lane." Lynn Sr. declared, taking his wife's hand in his own as he did so. "Are you sure you'll be able to hold the house down while we're gone?"

Lane nodded, "Yeah dad!" He cradles Lars in his right arm, "Linka's just hangin' out in her room and I'll probs just be watching Lars while I practice my clowning act and stuff." He smiled in affirmation.

"Ok honey." Rita grabbed her husband's arm as well; "We'll see you in about three hours. Remember to lock the door while we're gone!" She looked him in the eyes with a solemn gaze, "And remember, if anything comes up, make sure to call us, ok?"

"You got it mom!" The young boy raised his thumb, "Now don't worry! Everything's gonna be just fine!"

"Ok then Lane." Lynn Sr. turned and stepped out of the home with that, with his wife following him soon after.

" _I'm sure everything's gonna just find though."_ Lane smiled as he watched his parents drove off to run the errands they so dreaded doing every week. And with that, he slowly closed the front door, though he did notice three men standing across the street.

" _I wonder why those guys are there…"_ He thought. From what he could see, they were dressed as conspicuously as you could possibly be, with dark jackets and bandanas tied around their necks. A tense air overtook the young boy for a moment, before he simply shook his head, _"Nothing's wrong. They're probably just passing by."_ And with that thought in mind, he shut the door and locked it, just as he had been instructed to do.

He looked at his baby brother for a moment, his soft blue eyes and blonde hair contrasted sharply to what he would later dye them. "Wanna go hand out with your big brother Lars?"

Lars grabbed at Lane in joy, before shouting, "L-ane! Lame!"

"Heh." He chuckled, "Yeah, time with me is definitely not gonna be Lane!"

The younger boy chuckled back in response. And with that, Lane climbed the stairs and walked up to his room, only for Linka to pass by with, "Hey Lane, I'm gonna watch TV downstairs ok?"

"No probs sis." He smiled, "Enjoy!" He turned Lars to face her, and motioned towards his room, "If ya need me, I'll be with Lars ok? Just call if you need something and I'll be there!"

"Got it bro!" Linka cheerfully turned and went down the stairs with that.

And Lane responded by turning and walking into his own room.

* * *

"Hey Lane!" Linka shouts, snapping the young man out of his daydream.

"G'ahh?!" He stumbles back for a moment, before backing up into Lynn, "Oh, sorry Lynn, didn't **feel** ya there!"

"Were you even trying with that pun Lane?" Lynn pushes him off.

Lane shakes his head and puts on a proud smile, "Nope!"

Lynn pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment, before walking away, leaving Lane alone with Linka.

"So, you ready to practice the act for tomorrow, Lane?" Linka tilts her head in curiosity.

The young man puts on a sheepish smile, "Yep! Just remember, practice is gonna be **long** and **hard**!"

And yet, without missing a beat, Linka counters, "Yeah, like you wish a certain part of you could be."

" _Why isn't she getting offended by that?!"_ Lane's sheepish smile becomes more pained, "Great! Let's go!"

And with that, the duo walks downstairs, and out into the backyard, the ARC system uncovered and ready for use.

Lane steps onto its hard glass and takes a deep breath, _"I can't let Linka come too close to me… I can't let her down again."_ He secures a small, watch-like device to his wrist and turns to his sister.

"You ready Linka?" His voice wavers in fear.

Linka nods, "Yeah, what are we gonna do?"

"The first thing we're gonna do is…" he takes out a small black disc and quickly shakes it, causing a magician's top hat to pop up, which he immediately places on his head. "Just go over some simple tricks, ok?"

"Got it bro." Linka looks on in anticipation as Lane pulls out a baton and hands it to her, "Looks like a simple stick right?"

"Yeah bro." The girl responds.

"But, when I hit this button." He hits a small, inconspicuous switch on the magic wand, causing a bouquet of flowers to pop out, "A bouquet comes out!"

"Awesome!" The girl grabs the flowers and admires them for a few moments, "I didn't know that's how it worked!" She looks at her brother, "But uhh… how did you fit all these into this thing?" She motions towards the baton.

"Well, when you have as much experience as I do fitting big things into small places, you-" Lane starts… only for Linka to slap him in annoyance, "Lane, stop making those stupid puns!"

Lane rubs his aching cheek for a moment, _"Yeah, get angry Linka. That way you'll never wanna be near me again!"_ And when the pain numbs, he continues, "I'll try, but stoppin' is hard when you're having fun!"

With annoyance in her voice, Linka shakes her head, "Well, what's the next trick?"

He rubs his chin, "Hmm, well here's another classic." He then takes off the top hat and shoves his hand inside, and eventually, he pulls out a small, white rabbit, which he then presents to his sister, "Meet my pet rabbit, Mary!"

"Aww, she's so cute!" Linka declares, before taking the animal in her arms and hugging her tightly.

Mary lets her ears droop while she inches away in embarrassment.

"Heh, yeah, she's cute." Lane quips, as he puts his top hat back on, "But she's not as cute as I am when I-" Though he stops his pun when both Linka and Mary look at him in annoyance. "Ok, ok, there are a few more basic things to go over, and then we can move on to the thing we'll need to work on the most, ok?"

Linka nods, "Ok Lane. Let's do it."

 _ **An Hour later…**_

"Ok, you got that sis?" The young man asks, silently hoping that she would see just how complicated the act he has planned for the next day really is and would just quit on the spot.

Yet, much to his dismay, Linka nods and smiles, "Yeah! A high-flying trapeze act using your Performage cards?"

"Yeah." He nonchalantly answers, "Most of the time I just use Trapeze Magician since it's really hard to plan a routine that uses all of them." He awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "But since I'm getting paid a ton of money to do this… yeah, I think it'll be worth it."

"So that's why you need an assistant!" Linka shouts, flaring her arms as she does so.

He nods, "Kinda… yeah, that's basically it." While he thinks, _"And if I weren't desperate… or you weren't so convincing, I wouldn't have you as mine."_

"Ok then, where do we start?" Linka goes in excitement.

"First, we go with this." Lane motions toward the watch-like device he has attached to his wrist, "Since Levi found a way to make miniature ARC-Systems in those duel disks, I asked him to make a wrist-mounted one that I could use in performance." He shoves his hand in his pocket and pulls out a small card, "Just shove the card in and it'll appear!" And with that, he places the card in the device's receiver, causing a strange, clown-like being with a long cloud of yellow hair and a red wizard's hat, as well as an oversized ball decorated with stars, to appear next to him.

"Meet Performage Ball Bouncer." He motions towards the clown, "He's our opening act, after we bring in the simple stuff. I'll turn on my watch and bring ball bouncer out."

"Got it." Linka nods, "And you want me to play with him or something?"

" _I'd rather you stay away and not get hurt."_ The young man puts on a smile; "Basically!" he motions towards the clown, "Well Performage, go play!"

And immediately Ball Bouncer flies over and picks up the young girl. Linka rather than start screaming in fear, smiles and laughs in excitement. "This is awesome!"

" _It's supposed to be terrifying! She, she can get hurt!"_ Lane nervously thinks, "Ok Ball Bouncer, do your thing!"

And with that, the Performage laughs, before dropping Linka onto his ball and, well, bouncing it up, causing Linka to float in the air for a moment… a moment she immediately takes advantage of to do a backflip. "I'll repeat myself, this is awesome!" and with that, she safely lands on the ball, holding her arms out for balance, _"Thank goodness Lynn taught me that!"_

" _She's not getting scared!"_ Lane puts on a pained smile once more, "Great Linka! Just do that and I'm sure you'll wow the crowd tomorrow!"

"Yay!" Linka cheers, before jumping off the ball, "So what's next Lane?!"

Lane pulls out another random card, "So uhh… how about Cup Tricker? She'll hide you and swap you around… Nah, that's stupid. Good for street, not for a performance." He goes through his deck of cards for a moment, before stopping on another, "I know!" he shoves another card in the receiver, "Overlay Juggler!"

And with that, another clown appears, this one with purple skin, riding a small unicycle, with several rings floating around him, "He'll juggle you!"

Before Lane can even finish his explanation, Linka jumps into the Performage's hands and commands, "Juggle me!"

And with that, the wizard begins to do just that! Juggling the young girl, who makes sure to add in some backflips as she falls, as well as the several golden rings it came with, "Lane! This is awesome!"

" _Dangit… I guess I really am gonna have to have her as my partner!"_ Lane pulls out another card and puts it in the receiver, "Ok then Linka, you ready for the next partner?"

Linka responds, "Yep!" before she lands in the juggler's hand and backflips off, landing with an elegant grace in front of her brother, "Which clown will it be?!"

And with that in mind, the duo begins practicing the next legs, involving dancers and performers of all shapes and sizes, no doubt readying both of them for the act that is to come.

 _ **Later…**_

"Ok Linka." Lane looks to his right, towards the setting sun, "It's getting late now, so I think we should turn in."

Linka nods, "Sure Lane, how many performance segments are left to practice."

Lane thinks for a moment, "One more…"

"Ok then, how about we practice it, and then turn in?" Linka's exhausted voice fills with excitement.

"Are you sure sis? I mean it's-" The young man starts, only for his sister to cut him off with, "Lane, if you're making as much money with this gig as you say you are, you're gonna have to practice every piece before you go!"

Lane lets out a deep breath, "Ok then sis… ok." He pulls out a card, "Because the last two acts Performages will remain active, the card I'll play is Transcendental Polymerization, it'll save the step of bringing more out for the final act."

"Got it." Linka nods as she watches the two wizard clowns come together in a whirlpool of light, causing a new being to form… as well as its two parts returning, only to glow with yellow light as they enter a starry vortex, causing the second being to emerge.

"Meet Performage Trapeze Force Witch and Performage Trapeze Magician!" He motions towards a woman clad in clown gear, as well as a purple witch hat, holding a white baton with two purple rings at each end, standing next to a man clad in white clown gear wearing a blue cape and holding a purple baton with golden rings at each end. "These two are part of the show-stopper act!"

"And that is?" Linka tilts her head.

Lane takes a deep breath as he shoves one more card into the receiver, "A trapeze act."

The young girl hesitates for a moment, before smiling, "Really?! That sounds awesome! How will we do it?!"

Lane takes a deep breath and thinks for a moment, "Ok then, to pull it off…"

 _ **Generating Action Field: Entertainment Coliseum!**_

Immediately, the area around the duo fills with random trinkets and props one would find at the circus, with the duo standing atop two massive towers, with Force Witch standing next to Linka and Trapeze magician standing next to lane, "You gotta trust me, hold on to Force witch and when our magicians let us go, we'll grab onto each other and let them catch us, ok?"

"I'll trust you Lane!" Linka immediately declares, "Just promise we won't get hurt!"

" _I… I can't promise you anything…"_ Lane puts on a fake smile and nods, "We'll… we'll be fine just uhh… don't worry about falling, I have Performage Plushfire on standby in case we fall."

"Got it!" Linka grabs onto the Witch's hand. "Let's do this!"

"Ok then!" Lane grabs onto his Magician's hand, "And swing!" immediately, ropes of light appear at the ring ends of the two batons, before the two performers jump down and swing, one hand holding onto the line and the other holding onto the charge.

Then, as the two magicians reach the center, they release the boy and the girl, with the girl making sure to backflip before attempting to grab onto Lane.

" _I… I can't… I can't be trusted with her."_ Lane immediately thinks, his gaze falling upon the young girl in front of him, dancing in the air as she waits for her brother to grab onto her. _"I couldn't protect her… if I mess up… if she trusts me… I'll… fail her again!"_ A single tear begins to form upon his cheek, as he shakes his head and closes his eyes.

And with that, they fall.

Luckily, the two performers he commands are more than capable of catching them and quickly bring the duo back to the ground, before finally disappearing, taking the action field with them.

For a few moments, the two children stand in front of each other, with neither knowing where to begin.

Yet, eventually, Linka breaks the silence with, "Lane… what was that."

"Sorry Linka…" He responds, his voice filling with regret, "Something just got on my mind and-"

"Dude… you didn't catch me." She cuts him off, "I'm willing to trust you, but you gotta promise to catch me." She motions towards his wrist, "We almost had it too!"

" _Yeah… we almost did."_ He immediately thinks, before rubbing his head, "Yeah, sorry Link… something just uhh… popped into my mind and I uhh… got distracted."

Linka raises an eyebrow, "What was it?"

Lane shakes his head, "It's nothing, like I said, it popped up just like something I'd like to **pop!"**

The girl looks at him in annoyance for a moment, unsure of whether or not to slap some sense into him, or simply let the bad pun go, "Lane… if something's bothering you, you can say it." She places a hand on his shoulder, "I'm your sister after all! And I wanna be there when you need it!"

" _Why though… I wasn't there when you needed it…"_ Lane's thoughts begin to cloud his mind with a storm of confusion. "It's ok Link, really, it is!" He puts on the same pained smile he had been for the past hours of practice, before he finishes, "How about we hit the hay? After all, there are only some things you can do at night!"

"Technically, there are things you can do both in the day and at night." Linka quips, before grabbing a nearby prop, while Lane grabs his own supplies.

"Yeah… that's true." Lane responds, and with that, the duo heads inside. After they eat their dinner and finish up whether final preparations would be needed for the performance tomorrow, they both head off to bed.

Though, while Linka sleeps peacefully, Lane can't help but toss and turn.

 _ **Six years earlier…**_

"Ok Lars lets see what I can do to make you laugh…" Lane placed his baby brother on his bed, before walking over to a nearby toy chest and digging through it, "Hmm… I know!" He pulled out a small mask decorated with a happy clown's face, "How's this?!"

Lars looked on for a moment, before shaking his head in disapproval.

"Dangit." Lane went, before throwing the mask away and digging through the chest once more, "How about some juggling?!" Lane then pulled out three blue balls decorated with stars. And before Lars could respond with his answer, he began to juggle, "First a one, that's easy to do…" He sung, before throwing the second ball into the fray, "Oh look, now you've got two!" Then, he began to juggle with both hands, adding the third ball as he did so, "And when you've got three, now that's hard as can be!"

The younger boy laughed in delight and clapped his hands.

" _Great! I managed to get him to laugh!"_ Lane smiled with pride for a moment, before picking up his little brother, "Now how about-"

*Crash!* The sound echoed through the home.

"What the heck?!" Lane shouted, before he rushed out of his room and ran over to the stairway.

From what he could see, the three men he had spotted earlier stood in front of the, now broken, front door. Their gazes were filled with both determination and anger as they entered the home.

Immediately, Lane's body filled with panic, and he ducked behind the nearby wall, hoping that none of them would come his way, and yet, his fears are immediately realized when he heard the sounds of footsteps climbing the wooden stairs.

" _Dangit…"_ Lane thought, paralyzed with fear, _"I have to hide… I can't let Lars get hurt… I have to, I have to-"_ And yet, he could not move. For a moment, he simply stood by, hoping he would not be noticed. _"Please… please…"_ He silently begged, his mind racing as he clutched Lars.

Suddenly, one of the old stairs gave in, causing the man to partially fall through the stairs.

" _There's my chance!"_ he immediately thought, before he bolted back into his room, careful not to make a noticeable sound. _"Gotta hide, gotta hide."_ His mind frantically repeated, as he searched his room. His eyes quickly fell upon his closet, and without a second thought, he ran inside and closed the door, doing his best to make it seem as if no one was around.

" _Phew…"_ He breathed a sigh of relief. "We're gonna be fine." He whispered, his gaze falling upon Lars as he did so. The young boy looked up in fear for a moment, seemingly preparing to break out crying. _"I can't let Lars cry!"_

Lane immediately grabbed a nearby ball and began to juggle it, _"Please stay calm. Please stay quiet!"_ And luckily for him, Lars began to calm down. Lane immediately took the opportunity to whisper, "Don't worry Lars… everything's gonna be all right. The darkness is gonna hide us."

He then pulled out his phone, and began to text, _**"Mom and dad, come home now! Don't ask why, just come home!"**_

And before his parents could respond, he shut off the phone, preventing anything from alerting the invaders of his whereabouts.

" _We're gonna be fine-"_

"Lane! Help me!" Linka shouted, her voice filling with desperation.

Lane's eyes went wide in shock, _"No! Linka! I forgot she was downstairs!"_

"There's another kid here huh?" One of them men shouted, "Hey Lane! If you wanna help your sister, you better get out here!"

The young boy hesitated for a moment, considering the idea of running from his hiding place and confronting the men, and yet, he found himself unable to move. A sharp pain radiated in his chest, _"I… I have to…"_ his soft, begging gaze fell upon his baby brother, the young boy simply watching his choice in anticipation.

" _No…"_ He thought, _"Linka is probably gonna be fine. I can't let them know where I am… I have to protect Lars…"_

"If you don't come out, I'll hurt your sister in ways you could never imagine!" Another man yelled, before a breaking sound echoed through the home.

" _I'm sorry Linka…"_

"Come on!" A smack resonates through the home.

" _I can't save both of you…"_

"Well, I guess we'll just have your way with her then!" Another voice shouted… what he was implying was unclear to the boy.

" _This is all my fault."_

"Lane! Please! Come!" Linka shouted, more pain filled her voice.

A few moments of agony echoed through the home, before the Loud Parents finally returned and were able to gain control of the situation with the police. They eventually found Lane and Lars hiding away in the closet, thankfully safe and sound.

"Thank goodness you're all right!" Rita shouted as she embraced her two sons, the boys clearly shaken from the ordeal.

"Where… where's Linka?!" Lane trembles as he broke from his mom's embrace.

Immediately the two parent's eyes went wide in shock, "She's not with you?!"

"N-no…" He clutched Lars, "She… she was away when they broke in and I- I couldn't-"

"Now stay calm Lane." Lynn Sr. placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Let's go find your sister. You did the right thing when you could. As long as you're all right, I'm ok that you were separated…"

Lane nodded, and stepped out of the room, unwilling to let his baby brother go.

It only took him a few minutes to find her.

Lane walked into the basement, and immediately spotted his sister trembling in the corner, whispering, "Stay-stay away… please stay away."

"L-Linka…" Lane greeted, "I-it's me!"

The girl looked up in fear for a moment, before inching away, "No… please no." she continued to gently sob, the injuries around her neck making it difficult to breathe.

From what he could see, his sister was badly injured. She had bruises where the men had grabbed, pulled and shoved her. She was bleeding from the lip, no doubt acquired when they smacked her to shut up. Her hair was torn, no doubt pulled when they tugged her along by it. She had two black eyes. And from what he could see, she had received a broken arm and leg from the attack.

"L-Linka?" Lane whispered fearfully.

"Why didn't you come Lane… you promised…"

* * *

And with that, Lane jolts awake in his bed. He breathes in deeply for moment, desperate to calm himself down. _"It was just a dream Lane… it was just a dream. No one is gonna burst through the door and hurt your sister again… You're not going to be trusted to protect someone."_

He lets out a sigh of relief, _"I can't let Linka get hurt tomorrow."_

 _ **The next day…**_

" _ **Ladies and gentlemen!"**_ The announcer shouted, _**"For your dining pleasure, we have hired an unknown performer with great talent! The young, Lane Loud!"**_

The young man steps through the opening in the large, velvet curtains the dining room had, before he approaches the microphone placed on its center.

The room is massive, more akin to a dinner theatre than anything else. Groups of most likely extremely rich investors sit by; simply preparing to enjoy the show Lane is about to put on. The air breathes of opulence while the quietness of the theatre breathes of order. This is his most important show to date.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Lane greets, slightly adjusting the performance suit he had been given, "My name is Lane Loud and today I'm here to put on a show for you all!" He pulls out the small disk and opens up his top hat, then he pulls out his baton. "And to get started, let me introduce my lovely assistant, my sister, Linka Loud!"

And immediately, Linka steps forward from the curtain, wearing orange spandex, with a small skirt attached. "Hello!"

Lane then turns to Linka, "But before I begin, I have to give my sister a present!" He hits the button, causing the bouquet of flower to pop out once more. "Flowers for the lady!"

Linka smiles, before taking one of them in her hand, "Smells nice."

"There's more!" He declares, before grabbing the bouquet and throwing them up in the air!

Immediately, the bouquet bursts apart into a shower of confetti, eliciting claps from the audience.

"But I'm not warming up yet!" Lane takes off his top hat and shoves his hand inside, only to pull Mary the rabbit out a few moments later, eliciting a similar bored reaction from the audience.

"And now with that done, it's time to begin!" Lane declares, and the curtains behind him part ways, revealing a rather plain stage. Both he and Linka turn to face it, "This seems a little plain don't ya think Linka?"

Linka nods, "Yeah, how about you spice things up bro."

The young man immediately rolls up his sleeve and declares, "Then let's do just that!" He pulls out a green card and shoves it into his projector, "Let's set the stage!"

 _ **Generating Action Field: Entertainment Coliseum**_

And immediately, the stage is set, with the various items a circus act would need to perform.

The audience leans forward in awe.

" _So far so good!"_ Lane thinks, before pulling out another card.

The crowd looks on in awe as he shoves it into the device and declares, "I'll start off by calling my friend, Performage Ball Bouncer!" And with that, the ball-bouncing clown appears between the boy and the girl.

Linka then immediately jumps into action, getting on top of the ball and holding on tightly as the magician throws it up in the air, much to the audience's amazement.

The young girl floats in the air for a moment, before backflipping just as she did in practice.

" _She's gonna get hurt!"_ The young man watches as the girl falls, blissful and trusting that she would land just like in practice. He immediately shoves his hand into his other pocket and pulls out another card, "And take make sure my assistant lands perfectly, I bring out Performage Plushfire!" immediately, a wizard hat with a flame growing out of it appears under Linka, while Ball Bouncer disappears.

" _What the heck?!"_ Linka thinks as she modifies her fall, allowing her to land on the plush doll and backflip off, nailing the landing just as she did in practice.

The audience claps in approval, while Linka thinks, _"Lane… what are you doing?!"_

Lane takes a bow, before giving his sister a sheepish smile, "For our next trick, I'll bring out my friend, Performage Overlay Juggler!" And with that, the second wizard appears! And just like in practice, he grabs Linka and begins to juggle her, much to the young girl's delight!

Linka laughs as she backflips and spins in the air, lighting up the room with her joy and excitement.

" _Linka is gonna be fine."_ Lane smiles, before Overlay Juggler stops juggling and prepares to catch her.

The young girl simply stretches out her arms in order to make her landing much easier.

Suddenly, before Lane can even realize what he's doing, he pulls out a card and shoves it in the device once more, "And now it's time for Performage Filmsy Slimmer!" And with that, a roll of film, with a clown mask and a baton with a ring at one end appears, causing Overlay Juggler to disappear.

The audience holds their breath as Filmsy Slimmer flies over and catches Linka in midair, before quickly lowering her to the stage and taking a bow.

" _Lane… what are you doing?!"_ Linka thinks, though Lane doesn't hesitate to continue the act.

"Thank you everyone!" He pulls out another card, "And now, I play Performage Stilts Launcher!" And with that, a man dressed up like a royal night, in purple armor no less, wearing an orange cape and standing on two green poles appears!

Lane immediately jumps on his back, "It's time for a show!"

The man nods, before jumping up, allowing Lane to drop onto the stilts boost up! Suddenly, Stilts Launcher conjures up another set of stilts, from which he swings upon and grabs Linka!

Linka laughs even more as both she and Lane float in the air, both children spinning in the air and simply having a good time.

Then, fear overtakes Lane once more, and he lets go of the stilts.

"And now, I'm gonna play Performage Hat Tricker and Trick Clown!" He declares, causing Stilts launcher to disappear, and allowing a purple hat, with a green cape, orange glasses and white glows to appear, next to a small clown balancing himself on a ball.

" _What the heck?!"_ Linka thinks as the strange hat plucks her and Lane out of the air, allowing them to pose with it for a moment, before finally descending.

"And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we take a break for Act one! We'll be back in ten minutes to get the next segment ready!" Lane immediately ducks behind the curtain, taking slow, deep breathes to calm himself down, _"We're doing fine. The audience loves the show so far, and I'm-"_

"Lane, what's going on?" Linka approaches her brother with concern in her eyes.

" _Doing a great job protecting Linka from harm."_ He turns to his sister, "What are you talking about?"

"You're stopping our tricks in midair, and making sure I'm on the ground… why?" She tilts her head.

He shrugs, "What, can't a guy want to protect his sister?"

"Course they can but…" She holds her arm, "We practiced all of these tricks. We shouldn't need to worry about me falling…"

"It's nothing." Lane immediately answers, his voice slowly cracking.

"Lane… I can tell when things aren't all right. This isn't nothing." She crosses her arms in annoyance, "Why do you insist on hiding stuff from me?! I'm your sister from crying out loud!"

"It's nothing really." Lane then turns, and grabs Mrs. Coconuts from a nearby box. Then, speaking through her, he says, "It's just that sometimes you just gotta improvise!"

Linka looks at her brother with concerned eyes for a moment, "Lane… is there something wrong?"

"Nope!" Mrs. Coconuts answers, "Everything's just fine!"

"I ask because you seem to be making things harder than they need to be…" Linka continues, putting her hands on her hips as she does so.

Immediately, Lane responds, "Yeah, hard like-"

Suddenly, something in Linka just… snaps. She tightens her fists and shouts, "No! No more dirty jokes! No normal bad jokes! Not even actually funny jokes! No jokes!" She holds her finger up to him and stares into his eyes, "Speak to me like a normal person! What the heck is going on with you?!"

Lane goes quiet. The smile fake slipping from his face as he holds Mrs. Coconuts tighter

" _I think that got to him."_ Linka's expression softens as she places her fragile hand on his cheek, "Lane…. Big brother. Please, tell me what's wrong. Why are you suddenly so overprotective of me, when in practice you just watched?"

Lane looks off to the side, unable to speak his answer.

And so, Mrs. Coconuts speaks for him, "The kid's trying to drive you away with dirty jokes because he doesn't think he deserves to be your big brother after what happened... He's realized that bringing you here was a bad idea because he still doesn't trust himself to make sure you're safe, even though you practiced."

Linka tilts her head in both confusion and surprise. It wasn't rare for Luan to use Mr. Coconuts to say things she couldn't. But from the look on Lane's face, even he is surprised what the little wooden woman had been made to say.

"Lane… is this about the 'incident' all those years ago?" Linka quietly asks.

Lane simply nods in response.

She continues, "You were barely eight. What could you have done against a gang of teenagers?"

And Mrs. Coconuts responds, "He could have called the cops rather than just hope mom and dad would come home in time? He could have barricaded the door? He could have done something other than stand there like the chicken he was and let my five-year-old sister almost get killed!"

And yet, the young girl simply counters, "And what if they found you bro?" Her voice fills with determination, "If they found you calling the cops, they would've gotten madder and hurt you worse than they hurt me!"

Mrs. Coconuts counters, her wooden voice getting harsher, "Better me than you Linka! I'm your big brother! It's not just Loki's job to protect our younger siblings! It's mine too! I should've protected you to and I failed miserably! I wasn't there when you needed me the most!"

" _Why am I talking to a puppet…"_ Linka turns and looks into Lane's eyes. There are tears beginning to form in them, no doubt the pain of his failure all those years ago is beginning to finally release. Without hesitates, she takes hold of Mrs. Coconuts and hugs the doll.

"But if you were there, then you might not be here to make me laugh now." She continues.

And with that, she lets go of the doll and watches as the puppet slips from Lane's hand and falls to the floor.

Then, she looks back up at Lane, and proceeds to hug the boy, allowing her soft heat to fill his body.

She whispers in his ear, "You saved Lars remember?"

The young man hesitates for a moment, before putting his hands around her body, returning the hug, "Yeah... but he ended up growing up lonely... he's always shut in now." His voice fills with the tangy pain of regret, "And all because I couldn't protect you both!"

Yet, his sister counters, "You protected one of us. If anything… I guess I just felt angry you protected him instead of me." She looks away, before looking back at him, "But I was only five. I didn't understand it was a hard choice. And now, I know it was the right thing to do. Back then all I thought was why wasn't my big brother saving me. I resented him for being the one you saved instead of me."

She tightens the hug with that.

"But I understand now. I'm trying to make it up to Lars now so he doesn't have to feel lonely anymore. And you don't have to push me away anymore than I did him, or the others!"

Lane's jaw drops in shock, "You- you mean that sis?!" His voice fills with hope as he tightens the hug around his sister.

Linka nods, "Yeah bro, I mean it. You did what you could, and shouldn't focus on what could've been. Mom and dad came in before anything worse could've happened..." while she thinks, _"Probably, I hope."_

"…Thanks Linka."

"No problem Lane." And with that, she breaks the hug, "Now come on. We need to end this with a bang!"

"Yeah. With our 'double act' we'll definitely **blow** the audience away!" Lane smiles in excitement!

And Linka chuckles, "Ok now you're just doing it out of habit." She playfully punches his arm, "Now let's do this!"

After that, the duo gets back out on stage, and begins the second act of their performance.

 _ **Later…**_

After close to an hour of random acts and fun spinning in the air, the two Louds stand before their fiery audience. Excitement builds in the room and Lane declares, "It's time to close out the night with one final act!"

Linka then speaks up, "As you can see here, we have Performage Hat Tricker and Performage Trick Clown in play!"

Lane continues, "But when I play this card…" He pulls out a green card decorated with a ball of energy, with twin green rings at its side, and two souls flying around it, "I can combine them!"

The audience watches in awe as both Performages fly up, before glowing red and blue and merging in whirlpool of light! "Trickster that entertains with its mysteries, combine with the performer that entertains all, and become a new witch the spurs the sky! Ladies and gentlemen, I present Performage Trapeze Force Witch!"

And with that, the witch descends, ready to perform.

"But, we can't just have one! By using the power of my spell, I can bring back the two I used to form it!" Lane declares, causing the two performers to return! "And I'll overlay they to build the overlay network!"

The two performers glow with yellow and brown light, before flying into a starry vortex, from which a column of light bursts forth, "Artisan of the air, swing across the stage with grace! Ladies and gentlemen, I present Performage Trapeze Magician!"

The crowd claps in excitement as the two sorcerers grab the Louds and bring them up to the trapeze platforms.

 _"Remember, trust is all we need."_ Lane declares, before grabbing on to Trapeze Magician's hand.

"And remember Lane, I trust you!" Linka grabs onto Force Witch's hand. And with that, the two Louds look at each other from their platforms, before holding on tightly to their partners, and swinging.

" _Well then, let's do something I've always wanted to try!"_ Lane thinks as he lets go on his magician's hand, with Linka doing the same to her witch.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here we go!" He pulls out another card, _"Let's do this!"_ He shoves it in the receiver as he approaches Linka.

"What's going on Lane?" Linka nervously asks.

"The show stopper!" Lane replies, as she lands in his arms, and the duo begins to fall. "I played Rank-Up-Magic Magician's force!"

Immediately, Trapeze Magician glows with golden light, as his decorations grow more elaborate and fill with light, "The show must go on!"

His voice is filled with excitement as Force Witch grabs onto his legs, causing him him to be upside down while Linka holds onto both of his hands.

"Oh magician of the skies! More magnificently! More vividly! Run across an even greater stage! Ladies and gentlemen, I present Performage Trapeze High Magician!"

And with that, the once simply decorated magician now wears the pure white robes and white top hat with golden decorations of a master, as he swings across the sky with a grace never seen before!

"You trust me Linka?!" Lane asks, his voice filling with excitement.

Linka smiles, "Yeah!"

"Then swing!" Lane orders, as he throws Linka towards the high magician. And immediately, he grabs Linka right out of the air, before both he and Force witch drop down, landing center stage, with their poses mirroring each other.

"And with that, we conclude our performance!" The four take their bows as the action field disintegrates around them, leaving only the two Louds behind.

The crowd cheers and claps in excitement as the duo walks off the stage.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

"That was amazing Lane!" Linka flares her arms up in excitement, "Even I didn't see that coming!"

Lane shrugs, "Well hey sis, I had to make it a show-stopper somehow!"

"And I say that you did." The businessman from before walks over, "You did a great job Lane. You really earned your pay today."

"Thanks Mister." Lane responds, while patting his sister on the back, "But I couldn't have done it without my sister here!"

"Heh, I see." He chuckles, before pulling out a small slip of paper, "Well, seeing as you blew them out of the water, here's a little something for your sister too." He hands it to the girl, and her eyes go wide in shock.

"Five-hundred dollars?!" She shouts!

"Oops, I forgot a one!" He takes it back and quickly fixes the error.

Linka's eyes go even wider, "Fifteen-hundred dollars?!"

The man shrugs, "It's the least I could do. You bailed me out of really tough situation."

"Thanks!" the two go in excitement.

"No problem." He goes, "And if I ever need a performer, I know who to call now."

Lane smiles, "Thanks Mister… uhh… you never told me your name."

"Just call me Mr. Wallaby." He finishes, before turning and beginning to walk away, "You two get home safe, ya here?"

"Will do Mr. Wallaby!" Linka responds, before grabbing Lane's hand, "Now how about we go home bro?"

"Nothing would make me happier right now." Lane calmly responds.

And with that, they turn and start the journey home…

"Oh and Lane, I just remembered something!" Linka goes.

"Yeah sis?" Lane raises an eyebrow in curiosity.

Linka looks up to him in excitement, "Dad asked me to find someone I'd like to his perform at my birthday party next week, and well…" She rubs the back of her head, "I want you to perform!"

Lane smiles and nods, "I'd love to sis, I'd love to."

And with that, they go home.

14-15-23 23-8-1-20 23-9-12-12 8-1-16-16-5-14 23-8-5-14 20-8-5 3-12-15-23-14 12-5-1-18-14-19 20-8-5 20-18-21-20-8?

 **A/N And now, with that done, the "Revelations" Arc is officially complete! And now begins the "Legacy" Arc! I hope you guys enjoyed this story! And as always, I thank everyone who's helped me with this story! Especially Wolvenstrom for helping me with some of the more important scenes!**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed! I stayed awake until 3AM** **writing the final touches!**


	28. A Birthday To Remember!

**A/N Hey guys, I'm back again! And here is the beginning of the "Legacy" Arc! I hope you guys enjoy!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: It's time for Lincoln and Linka's birthday, but things aren't as they seem!**_

Story Twenty-Eight: A Birthday To Remember!

"Ok… I have to carry the two, add the one…" Levi whispers as he scribbles down his calculations, "Then I have to divide by a dimensional matrix and differentiate the derivative of the resulting curve…" He throws his pencil away, jumps to his feet and starts scribbling on a nearby blackboard, "And remember to learn how to speak in a way a normal human could understand..." He quickly finishes and turns to the girl doing the same on the other side of an open portal, "Lisa, how are your calculations coming out?"

"I believe we almost have everything we will need to create a bridge between worlds capable of withstanding the dimensional anomalies present." The female scientist responds, hope filling her typical monotone voice. "That is… so long as nothing stops us before we are able to complete it…"

"My sister?" Levi looks at her with worry.

Lisa nods, "Yes, as it stands she is being pacified by my elder sisters, but I am unsure of just how long that will last." She steps back and motions at her basement lab, "Luckily, I highly doubt she'll come down here anytime soon."

"Good." Levi lets out a breath in relief, "We cannot allow this project to be revealed." He walks over and grabs a nearby pebble, "Now, ready to test this interdimensional portal?"

"Of course, we wouldn't like it to blow up right in our faces like our other inventions, right?" A chuckle rests under the girl's breath,

" _I need to do this… for my sister…"_ Levi hesitates as he turns around and begins jotting more notes down, " Do you believe we will be able to finish this before the party is over tomorrow?"

Lisa nods, "If we stay awake all night working, I'm sure two four-year-old geniuses will be able to construct a Transuniversal Polydimensional Meta-Vortex bridge between two nearby dimensions, especially since most of the math is already done." She motions towards a pile of papers standing up at her waist.

"Good…" His voice trails off as he walks over to the nearby toychest and begins to pull out his building supplies, "Then let's get to work. After all, things like this aren't as easy to build as television would suggest!"

"You watch television?" Lisa raises an eyebrow in shock.

Levi holds up a small pile of tools in his little arms, "Yeah… I uhh, watch it with your brother sometimes… how about you?"

"I do not have time for such innate forms of entertainment." She crosses her arms in contempt, "Science is what I do!"

"But doesn't it, ya know, get boring doing the same thing every day?" Levi tilts his head in curiosity, "I mean… sometimes it feels good to just let go and let your mind imagine the possibilities."

For a moment, Lisa doesn't budge, her spirit is unwavering against the idea… the very notion that science could be boring! _"I've had multiple breakthroughs in the past few months! I've made a device capable of travelling between dimensions… that resulted in my brother getting sent somewhere else… and then I made… other devices that do the same thing but don't work…"_ Her expression softens in defeat.

"How about, after the party tomorrow, I take you somewhere fun?" Levi smiles at his counterpart.

"Very well, I'll go along with you." Lisa lets out a breath in defeat, "Let's get this portal done first."

"You got it!" Levi gives a thumbs up, and with that, the duo get to work on their portal!

The next morning…

*Crash!* Lane kicks Linka's room door open and shouts, "Happy birthday, Linka!" With a beaming smile radiating from his face.

Luckily for him, Linka is already awake when he does this, allowing the young girl to turn to her brother and respond, "Thanks, Lane!"

"We're just here to start your morning with some smiles!" He holds up Mrs. Coconuts and speaks through the puppet, "After all, this might be one big, busy day!"

The young girl tilts her head in confusion, "What do you mean by that, Mrs. Lane's Girlfriend?"

"Hey!" Lane chuckles, "Just because I spend time with it, doesn't mean she's my girlfriend!" Lane throws his head back in laughter, while Mrs. Coconuts stares at him in annoyance. Lane rubs the back of his head in embarrassment. "There are a ton of people coming to spend time with Linka today! It's probably gonna get a bit crowded, especially if most of them are guys!" The doll turns and stares at the boy in contempt for a moment… only for Lane to counter, "Oh… I thought you were gonna make a joke!" He turns to his sister, "I guess we're out of punch lines, so how about we call a _hot_ line to help us?"

And for some, odd reason, Linka can't help but chuckle at her brother's failed attempt at comedy, "Haha, thanks Lane."

"No problem, Linka!" He cheerfully responds… only for Mrs. Coconuts to speak up, "Anyways, Loni told us to tell you that he has your birthday dress ready! He mentioned asking a friend to add some stuff to it, hoping you'll like it."

"Got it." Linka raises a thumb in approval, before Lane walks out of the room, allowing the girl to close the door.

She lets out a deep breath, and smiles; " _I can't believe I've been here for six months now. It feels like only yesterday that I was home, hating the idea of having ten brothers, and now I'm in a dimension where I'm the only girl have ten brothers!"_ she sits does and lies back on her bed, before chuckling. "At least these guys are not the jerks from the other dimension. I wonder what was up with _them_."

"Who knows? I suppose they were meant to just teach you a lesson of some kind." A familiar voice calls out, before William appears once again.

"Hey…" Linka turns to face the guardian. Though instead of greeting him with a smile, she can't help but feel... concerned, "So uhh… why are you here?"

"I just came to wish you a happy birthday." He smiles at her, giving off an uncertain air as he does so, "And to mark the occasion, I have decided to outright tell you where the next fragment is, my treat."

"And you couldn't tell me before, because?" Linka crosses her arms in annoyance.

"Simple, because what fun would your journey be if I simply told you where everything was?" William looks into her eyes and puts his hands behind his back, "The final fragment, known as the component, is currently in the possession of Lyle Loud, one of your sibling's counterparts working in the AEU. If you ever want to fix everything, I suggest you find a way to go there or get them to come back here."

"Got it." Linka sighs and rubs the back of her head, "That'll be easier said than done…"And idea comes to her, "By the way, why aren't you helping the hunters anyway? Given the fact that you, well, are the Guardian Of Dimensions and stuff... Or are you hiding something from me?"

William begins to count on his fingers, "One, because they regard me and any being outside their own authority as anomalies, ironic given the fact thatthey were started by the new Guardian of Order."

His voice fills with frustration and he throws his arms up annoyance, "No matter how many times I explain that it's my job to make sure dimensions don't fall apart all the time, they still try to do my job for me! And it always ends badly!"

" _To be fair, you're not exactly a very trustworthy guy,_ " Linka rolls her eyes.

He continues to count, "And secondly, their method is the equivalent of trying to treat the symptoms rather than get rid of the disease."

"What do you mean?" Linka tilts her head in confusion and curiosity.

William pinches the bridge of his nose, "What they do is more akin to trying to stick a Band-Aid on a gangrenous limb, it doesn't work and you'll end up forced to chop more off later." He turns around, "Their method is only able to stall dimensional collapse. My method prevents it. But refer to our current situation for why I wish there were another way."

"I see…" Linka rubs her chin, "Well, since it's my birthday, could you answer more questions?"

"Well, I-" William's gaze falls upon Linka's cute, begging eyes, "Ugh, all right then, what do you want to know?"

The girl rubs her chin again, before snapping her fingers, "Why did you choose me to find the fragments?" She asks, hope filling her tone.

The man doesn't hesitate to answer, "Simple, only someone who's anomalous in their existence is able to reveal a fragment's true nature, hence why your teacher and friend were around them and yet had no idea of their existence, as well as why it was easy for you to spot and why an anomaly hunter was easily able to take it."

"Get it?" He looks back at her.

"I think I understand." Linka responds with an unsure tone, "So uhh… what will you do once I get all the fragments anyway?" The young girl looks up at the man.

"Why, I'll use them to cleanse your reality of all that corrupts it." William nonchalantly responds, "My intentions have not changed since-"

"What about the evil Lincoln?" She continues leaning ever so slightly closer as she does so. "What will happen to him?"

For a moment William stares at her, as if considering his response carefully, "Once I used the fragments to repair the anomalies popping up, I will be able to find and erase the evil Lincoln from existence." He smiles, "Then peace will be restored… for now."

"Why is he doing what he is anyways?" The young girl continues, her interest beginning to peak. "It doesn't really make much sense to me."

"I never know the intentions of the anomalies I have to deal with… though, most likely he's just trying to increase his standing in the universe or something along those lines… it's cliché in my opinion." The man turns and looks away, "Though the mere idea of this darkness… haunts me."

"What do you mean?" Linka tilts her head in confusion once again.

For a moment, the old man turns away and pauses… as if trying to find the right words to answer the young girl. "Lincoln… if you could have a perfect world, would you take the chance?" William glances at the girl behind him. "Because I would."

Linka shrugs, "I still don't know, and I certainly don't want to think about it, thank you very much."

"Heh, of course." William smiles, "Anyways, I have business to attend to. Happy birthday, Lin-"

"Will, you're not leaving until you answer one last question." The girl cuts him off, "Please."

The being can only groan in exasperation, "Fine, what is your last question?"

"Why have the hunters only been hunting me? The Linka of this dimension is just as anomalous in nature, and she's been having a blast living my life! Well… besides whatever she and Pop Pop did." Linka throws her arms up in annoyance.

Suddenly, William's interest peaks, "That's a good question." He rubs his chin, "Though… I honestly don't know." He turns and looks the young girl in the eyes, "Then again, AEU members tend to be extremely incompetent. And someone of her nature would not be considered a top priority." He turns around again, "That is the best answer I can give you. Anyway, bye!"

And with that, William vanishes from existence, Leaving Linka alone in the room she had called her own for the past six months.

" _What's going on?"_ She thinks, before taking a deep breath, "Whatever… it's probably nothing… I'm overthinking something as minor as details…" She then turns and opens her door, "Now, I got a party to attend!"

 _ **Meanwhile, in Dimension C-137**_

"Happy birthday, Lincoln!" Lori and Leni walk into a similar green-painted room carrying a small slice of cake.

"What did you call me?" Lincoln growls, staring at them in anger.

A moment passes, while the sisters think of how to respond.

"Oh right, we're supposed to call you something else." Lori responds, before both she and Leni exchange looks and continue, "Happy birthday, Liberty!"

"Thanks girls." Lincoln… err Liberty responds, before struggling to turn in the bed, and getting up on his feet- his broken leg having healed just enough to walk on again, while his broken arm no longer needed its sling, though the cast remained, "Today's gonna be great! I can just feel it!"

"You know it!" Lori puts on a fake smile to appease her "brother", " _I hope Lisa finishes that dimensional bridge soon. I don't know how much of this I can take!_ "

Leni then cheers, "If you think this cake is good, you wouldn't believe the party we set up for you!" She shoves the slice in the young boy's hand, "It's like, totes awesome and stuff!"

"I can't wait to see it!" Lincoln cheerfully responds, "When is it though?"

"Later, that's the best I can tell you without spoiling the surprise." Lori responds, "We're just putting on the final touches and stuff." She then grabs Leni's arm and pulls her out of the room, "We'll call you when everything's ready, ok?"

"Fine, if you say so." The boy nonchalantly responds, before his two sisters rush out of the room.

"See, they're happy!" He chuckles, _"Maybe I won't need to do much after all."_

"Course you won't." A familiar man appears, slight anger filling his voice. "Those girls care for their brother too much to let anything happen to him… even though at this point the only thing of their brother you are is his body."

"A wild William has appeared!" Liberty throws his head back in laughter! "Hey Will, whatcha doin' here again?" he smiles at the man, "Come to give me good news or something? I'm not exactly in the mood for bad news, so if you have no good news, I advise you to leave."

William shakes his head, "No, you've annoyed me severely and have added a variable I did not want to deal with while I work on my plans." He lets out a deep breath, "I have come to just wish you a happy birthday. Happy, in this context, is sarcastic."

Liberty chuckles again, "Heh ok then." Her voice gains a sinister undertone, "Since it's my birthday, would you mind telling me what your big plan is and stuff, or at least why I'm involved at all?"

He sits down in front of his desk, and takes the device he had taken from Lisa in his hands. "Seeing as I'm the one who's making sure you can do your insignificant part after all."

William hesitates for a moment, and yet, he simply responds, "My plan is simple, to cleanse the multiverse of all that corrupts it. Good and evil, pain, dis-"

"Blah, blah, blah. Whatever." Lincoln leans back against his chair, "The 'cleanse' already gave me an idea of what it is." He turns to the old, white-haired man, "Might as well tell me why you needed me to make a distraction and stuff I guess. I'm pretty sure that'll be more interesting than your endgame."

The old man pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration before muttering, "Why the heck did I think it would be a good idea to talk to this girl?" He lets out a deep breath and looks up at her, "I needed you to act as a distraction to prevent those girls from compromising my plan. Soon it will come to fruition, finally."

"Huh, ok then. Sounds fun." Lincoln nonchalantly responds, "Well if you need me, I'll be headed off to do my stuff!" And with that, Lincoln gets up and walks out of the room, leaving William behind to contemplate his life's choices.

"What an annoying little brat." He mutters, before disappearing.

* * *

"Lisa?! How long until this dimensional bridge you've talking about is done?! I literally cannot stand acting as that… thing's slave any longer!" Lori rushes into the scientist's basement lab, anger filling her voice.

"Soon sister." Lisa nonchalantly responds, motioning towards her male counterpart as she does so.

"With two scientists working on it, from both ends, we should be done with this soon enough." Levi shouts from the other side, "We're just making sure that people can jump through without issue!"

Lori lets out a sigh of relief, "Good. Make sure to tell us when you're done, ok?"

Lisa nods, "Understood elder sibling."

And with that, Lori walks back upstairs, no doubt to join the party.

"You ready for the wet run Levi?" Lisa turns to her counterpart.

"Yeah, and once it works, you'll be able to come!" Levi cheerfuly goes.

"Yes, and we'll finally be able to bring our true brother home!" Lisa shouts, her typically monotone voice filling with excitement!

"Yeah…" Levi goes, his voice trailing off with an unknown fear, _"And when he leaves here… they'll send back my 'sister'…"_ He shakes his head, _"This is for the best… he has to go home."_

"Are you all right Levi?" Lisa calmly asks, "Something seems to be bothering you."

The male scientist simply shakes his head, "Yeah, everything is just fine. I just feel fatigued from working all night, this is nothing we haven't felt before."

" _This is most likely about the reverse swap. No matter, he is my counterpart in that reality, so he will no doubt go along with it anyway."_ The female scientist nods in affirmation, "Very well then. Let's do the test run."

Levi nods in agreement, and both scientists walk over and both grab a pebble. And in unison they declare, "Here goes nothing!" And they both throw them in.

Instantly the pebbles vanish for a moment, both reappearing on the opposite sides of the portal.

"We did it!" Lisa cheers, "I'll alert the sisters as soon as we finish stabilizing it!"

"Yeah… we did it." Levi remains emotionless, and with that, they get back to work.

 _ **Back in Dimension 63i'\**_

"Let's make this party great!" Linka's shouts in excitement as Loni puts the finishing touches on her birthday dress. "You ready Loni?"

"Almost…" The young man quickly stitches up a few more adjustments and pulls on the dress to straighten it out, "And… done" He stands up and goes, "There! What do ya think?!"

Linka quickly walks over to a nearby mere and smiles at her reflection. Her once simple dress had been modified not only to fit her better, but now has a set of angel wings attached to their back, oversized white shoulder puffs, an overblown skirt with white lace under the orange cover, white stockings, orange shoes, and a matching orange bonnet.

She smiles in happiness as she turns to her brother and declares, "I love them! Thanks! Where'd you get the idea for this stuff bro?"

"I got them from some anime, like usual." Loni nonchalantly shrugs, "The card girl kinda reminded me of you, so what better way to make your birthday dress look even nicer than to put wings on it and everything else! Everything looks better with wings!"

"Haha! I guess I can see what you mean," Linka chuckles, before turning and motioning her brother to follow, "Well, let's go!"

"Course not sis!" Loni cheerfully responds. And with that, the duo walks downstairs.

Immediately, the young girl is taken into the backyard- no doubt decorated by her brothers the night before- where the party catches her eye. From the door, she could see everyone she had met in the past six months is here! With her friends and acquaintances talking to each other without strife!

"Wow!" Linka watches in awe as Lane goes out of his way to put on an entertaining show for the crowd… by using his Trapeze Magician to fight one of Leif's robot birds. A few feet away, Luke rocks out on guitar, giving a soft rock vibe to go along with his more modest hairstyle.

"This party is amazing!" Linka quips, before a particular boy, holding a cup of fruit punch, catches her eye, "Ron Andy!" She runs over and throws her arms around him, "I can't believe you made it!"

"Haha, hey Linka!" The boy would return the girl's hug, but Linka has him held tightly in her grip, "It's been a while."

Linka immediately lets go and rubs the back of her head, "Heh, yeah, but can you blame me being busy and stuff for that." She chuckles and gazes into the young boy's eyes, "You didn't forget did you?"

"Forget what?" Ron Andy tilts his head in both confusion and curiosity.

"This!" And with that, Linka gives him a soft kiss on the cheek, "You didn't mind, did ya?"

Immediately, Ron Andy's face goes red in either embarrassment, or from the blood rushing to his head in joy! Luckily for him, that's all Linka needs as a response… though he does manage to stammer out, "Not that much... Actually, I didn't mind at all! I just wish I could to see my girl more often, ya know?!"

The girl chuckles, and gives him a playful punch on the arm. Though, of course, he can barely feel it. "Welp! I'm gonna be here if you need me!" He promptly turns around, internally leaping for joy as he does so."

" _He's cute when he's flustered."_ Linka knowingly smiles and turns around, only for another girl to catch her eye, "Chandler?!"

"Yeah, who else?" The red-haired girl responds, before shoving a present in Linka's arms, "I'm doing this because my parents told me to."

Linka smiles, while chandler turns around and crosses her arms, as if trying to hide her true intentions.

"Thanks Chandler!" Linka chuckles, before clawing into the gift, revealing a set of boots with and attached note. "Boots?! I needed some of these for months! Thanks!"

"Don't mention it." Chandler goes with a stuck-up attitude.

Linka then reads the attached note, _**"Linka, look, I know we haven't been the best of friends, but after I saw what Ron Andy would do to protect you… well… I'm willing to not bully you anymore to make him happy. I hope this present makes us even."**_ Linka smiles, "You've got a long way Chandler, but I think we could start!"

Chandler scoffs, "Whatever." Before walking away, a slight smile forming on her face.

" _Today's goin' really good so far."_ Linka smiles as she puts Chandler's gifts with the rest of them.

"Hey, Linka!" A familiar voice calls out, causing the girl to turn to face the ex-hunters, with Alex continuing, "We've got something to show ya."

"Hey ya guys, what is it?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

"Nothing much, we just thought we should show you this…" Nyla pulls out her holo-gear and shows her the flashing message, _**"Dimensional Stability Compromised! Evacuate immediately!"**_

Linka stares at the warning for a moment, before looking up at the hunters, and asking, "What does that mean?" She tilts her head as she awaits the response.

"It means that this dimension can't handle that many more anomalies coming in!" Nell responds, motioning towards the other hunters as she does so, "We've done our best to keep anomalies at bay, but I'm not sure how long this place will last before we have to add an 'x' somewhere around its already weird name!"

For a moment, Linka stands back, unsure of just how to react to the news, yet she eventually sighs in response, "You know what guys, how about we deal with that issue later? We're at a party after all!"

The ex-hunters look at each other for a moment, before glancing between each other just unsure of how to react.

Then, Nyla snaps, "Are you serious right now!?"

"Yeah, I've been doing so much stuff and I'm in need of a break-" Linka looks away.

"You don't need a break!" Nyla shouts, grabbing the birthday girl's shoulders as she does, "You need to get the last component right now!" She takes a moment to catch her breath and lets go, "I don't wanna leave this world, and I doubt these guys want to either. We need you to finish doing what you were asked to do."

Nell then adds, anger buried in her tone. "Otherwise, all these people you've been helping will-"

"Guys, shut up!" Linka snaps at the ex-hunters. "I got most of the fragments and I know where the final one is, but right now we're at a party! I mean seriously, I haven't seen a single anomaly since I got here! So please, let's just enjoy the party!"

Nell and Nyla, seeing the girl wouldn't be reasoned with, simply nod in response and go to "enjoy" the party... though, unbeknownst to everyone, a tree nearby has the hole of its trunk turn into an eye.

After that, Linka notices Lexx talking to a certain girl she's been dying to meet.

"So, anything I'm missing?" Linka walks over to her actor brother.

Immediately, Lexx stammers, "Hi Linka!" he motions toward the young girl dressed in a set of pink overalls, "This is Nala!"

The young girl looks at the younger girl for a moment, " _Bout time I met this girl! She looks exactly like Lana!"_ She smiles, "It's nice to meet ya!"

"Thanks." She shyly goes, "It's nice to meet ya too."

Linka then chuckles, and walks away, only to find Luke and Nyla talking, simply having fun, " _Those two look so cute together. I won't bother em."_

"Hey, sis, come here," Loki walks over, with Bebe holding onto his arm, "How are ya feelin?"

"Great so far!" The girl responds, turning to Bebe as she does so, "How about you two? I heard you finally got ungrounded."

Bebe chuckles and awkwardly rubs her head, "Well I could only be grounded for a few months, so my parents did have to, ya know, unground me eventually." She chuckles, "I guess my meddling didn't help as much as I had hoped."

"Yeah…" She shrugs, "But hey, at least Ron Andy and I are together now!" She motions towards Claudia and Cristopher, the duo simply enjoying the party in silence, "As our friends are too."

"Good to know." Linka smiles.

Loki then motions towards Lane, "Now how about we watch Lane? I heard he's made a special act just for you!"

"Really?!" Linka goes in surprise, "Awesome!"

"Yeah, come on." Loki goes, taking his little sister's hand in his own, while Bebe holds on to his other arm. And with that, they walk over to the young man's show, as he prepares to give his sister the best one of her life!

And a few feet away, inside the house, Lynn Sr. simply stands next to his wife, watching as they do so. "Hey Rita."

"Yes dear?" The woman smiles in response.

"Linka's really grown up hasn't she?" Lynn Sr. looks at his wife with a nostalgic smile.

"What do you mean dear?" Rita looks back at him.

"You know… since the 'incident' all those years ago." He looks back at his only daughter, "Before she wouldn't leave your side… and now she's holding a steady job, spending time with boys, and well… being happy."

"That's great dear!" Rita's voice fills with excitement.

Lynn Sr.'s smile turns to a frown, "But I'm worried that something bad will happen to her-"

"Lynn Bertram Loud Junior!" Rita snaps at her husband, "This has gone on for long enough!" She holds her finger up to him, "Ever since the incident I've taken a back seat because you've done a good job keeping things orderly, but for crying out Loud, it's our daughter's birthday!"

She leans back, "Our daughter is happy now. She's grown up, and I don't think it's a good idea to keep pressuring the boys into protecting her anymore."

"But-" Lynn Sr. tries to counter, only for his wife to cut him off, "You remember when Leif was playing with her don't you?" She crosses her arms, "He let himself get injured in order to protect her. The others were legitimately surprised when she decided to spend time with them all! Heck, she had to beg to come along on the camping trip too!"

Lynn Sr. simply stands by, unable to counter his wife.

Rita lets a deep breath and softs her expression, "Lynn… it's time you let our daughter breathe more… After all… she's growing up, and from the time I spent with her, I learned she's more like the boys than you'd expect."

"What do you mean?" The man asks.

"Did you know she loves reading comics in her underwear?" Rita stares into his eyes with a determined gaze.

"She-She isn't-" Lynn Sr. begins to stammer.

"I know we meant well, but she doesn't want to be the perfect housewife." The woman finally declares, "She wants to be herself. And while I know the boys love their sister, I have a feeling they don't like their lives revolving around her."

Despite the noisy party roaring outside, silence is able to overtake the two adults.

"I was a horrible father…" He turns and looks at his daughter, the young girl smiling as she spins the air with her two brothers.

"And I should've been a better mother for them." Rita continues, grabbing her husband's hand as she does so.

"But we meant well didn't we?" Lynn Sr. looks at his wife with a begging gaze.

"We did…" She responds with a sigh. "But I think it's time we stopped worrying about her so much… she'll be fine."

Lynn Sr. smiles, "With the boys… I guess you're right." He looks at his daughter again, "After the party, I'll go take her somewhere… maybe fishing, I've taken the boys, but never her."

"You expect her to catch some fish with ya?" Rita chuckles.

"No." He flatly responds, "If I remember anything my dad told me about fishing, your dad never takes you fishing to actually catch fish." He turns to her.

"Ok then dear." Rita goes, "Now how about we join the party?"

"I'd love to." And with that, they step outside the home.

* * *

"Stabilizing Photon Accelerators…" Levi's voice trails off, as he types in the numerous codes required to correct any issues an inter-dimensional portal could possibly have. "Initializing data tracking… location of opposing bridge detected."

Lisa ignores the itching feeling crawling up her back as she completes the calculations required on her end, "Stabilizing Tachyon Generators… activating interdimensional bridge in dimension C-137." Without hesitation she slams her hand down a nearby blue button, causing her end of the portal to begin to spark with silver light. "Awaiting secondary input." The young girl turns to her counterpart, "Levi?"

Levi sits motionless in front of the button, his hand wavers mere inches above it, as if the young scientist is hesitating whether or not to complete the project he had spent the past week on completing.

"Levi?" Lisa hops to her feet, "Are you all right?" Slight concern fills her voice.

" _If I hit this button… I'll lose the one sister I ever knew…"_ The young boy thinks, as the memories of his time with his current sister floods his mind, _"She… she accepted me for who I am… she helped me with my experiments… she… she was a real sister to me…"_ he begins to space out even further, allowing the image of his sister hinder his sight.

"Levi!" Lisa shouts, pulling the young boy from his trance.

"Huh?" He quickly looks around in shock.

Lisa takes a deep breath, "What's going on? Hit the secondary input!"

Levi stares at the pink button resting in front of him, his hand not responding to his thoughts.

*Sigh* Lisa goes, "You're worried about what will happen next, huh?" She looks at her counterpart.

"Yes." Levi flatly responds, recoiling his arm as he does so, "Your Lincoln has been the best big sister I ever had! He's treated me like what I am, instead of a scientist all the time! And I don't want to lose that!" His typically monotone voice fills with despertion.

"Of course…" Lisa's voice trails off, "But you're not the only ones that need him." He looks at her, "Lincoln belongs home…"

"No he doesn't!" Levi snaps, "This is his home! He loves it here!"

Lisa nods, "I'm sure he does, if what you've been telling me is true he's made quite the reputation for himself there." She sighs, "But his sisters need him too."

A moment of silence overtakes the two rooms.

"Promise he'll be coming back after this bridge is made?" Levi finally asks, more fear filling his voice.

For a moment, Lisa considers complaining about the absurdity of a promise, and yet, she can't help but find herself nodding, "Yes. I'll make sure he goes back to visit."

"Ok…" The male scientist moves his trembling hand over the button, and slams it.

* * *

"Hey Clyde Bear!" Lincoln painfully limps over and hugs his friend and lover, "How are ya feeling?!"

"Um... Great, Liberty, I guess." He smiles and hands the boy a present, "I hope you enjoy it. I uhh, had a ton of trouble trying to pick it out!" His voice is filled with an awkward fear.

"Don't be scared Clyde!" He takes it in his hands, "No matter what you got, I'll probably love it!" And without another word, he tears into the box and pulls out a small dress. "Wow…" He holds it up to the light to admire it.

"Do you like it?" Clyde holds his hands together tightly, fearful of his partner's rejection.

Yet, despite his fears, Lincoln simply smiles, "I love it!" Then he throws his arms around his boyfriend, before looking around the simple party. "This party is amazing!"

Similarly to Linka's party, everyone the boy knew came in attendance, though Ronnie Anne does her best to stay away from the boy… while making sure Cristina doesn't even attempt to approach either. As for the other Loud Siblings… they choose not to live up to their family name, not that Lincoln notices.

"I can't wait for the entertainment!" He shouts, before pulling Clyde over to a nearby table.

A few feet away, Lori gathers up the rest of her sisters and goes, "Girls, I literally cannot deal with this girl anymore!"

"None of us can, Lori." Luna immediately responds, "But we gotta handle her or else the real Lincoln will be…" She motions towards her throat.

Leni tilts her head in confusion, "Thirsty?"

"You can water that!" Luan puns, throwing her head back as she does so.

"Well I-" Lori continues, only for her phone to go off, "Huh?" She quickly digs her hand inside her pocket and pulls the device out, "Lori, the bridge has been made, come up and we'll be able to bring Lincoln home!"

Lori's voice fills with a commanding excitement, "Girls, it's time!"

None of the girls need an explanation, before they all rush back into the home and up the stairs into the room of their youngest members.

Immediately, the cramped room is filled with the noise of ten siblings desperately trying to get an explaination out of the sceintists.

"Girls! Calm down!" Lisa stands back in fear, the pressure from being outnumbered quickly overtakes her. And immediately, Lori responds by ordering, "Girls! Stand down!" And her eight siblings comply.

"Thank you." Lisa lets out a sigh of relief, only for Lori to step forward.

"Lisa, is it ready yet?" Lori steps forward, her heart racing in anticipation. "I don't know how much longer I can deal with that Not-Lincoln!"

The young scientist turns towards her male counterpart, "Are you ready to open the portal again?"

"Yes Lisa. Everything is clear on this end." Levi begins to type on the nearby computer once more.

Lisa responds by doing the same thing. A fearful air overtakes the room, the translucent barrier dividing the two dimensions slowly solidifying as they go on.

GLaDOS then declares, _**"Dimensional Bridge Integration Initialized! Generating Connection!"**_ And with that, the portal begins to glow, forcing all around to shut their eyes.

When it finally dies down, the portal Lisa had been using to communicate with Levi is now a perfect circle with a silver border.

"You ready to see Lincoln again?" Lisa turns to her sisters, "This portal will allow us to jump to the dimension he currently resides in, and hopefully bring him home… but we must be quick, now I know that you would want to-"

"I literally don't care about the risks, but if any of you are afraid, feel free to speak up." Lori looks at her sisters, and wordlessly, they unanimously agree; even Lily for that matter. "Then it looks like we're going to save Lincoln together. Let's go Lisa."

Lisa nods, and wordlessly, the ten sisters lock hands.

Determination fills the air, as all ten of the Loud Girls stand before the open portal.

"Last chance to run." Lucy goes, "If this doesn't work, we're dead."

"So?" Lola goes, glaring at Lucy as she does so, "We're saving Lincoln! Death is the least of our problems!"

"We've got to brother to save him!" Luan puns, illiciting groans from her sisters.

"Let's go." Lori declares, before running at the portal, with her sisters quickly following. And without another word, they jump through.

And for a split second, they pass through the interdimensional space, and in that, they see the countless possible realities that exist between them and their missing sibling. Though, luckily, this doesn't cause their minds to break.

After that, they land...

 ** _Back in Dimension 63i'\_**

Suddenly, the ex-hunter's Holo-Gear goes off, declaring, _**"Warning, warning, warning, warning! Dimensional Stability offset!"**_

"Uhh, what's going on?" Nyla looks at the error message in shock, while the others do the same. She continues by hitting her device, "This thing has be on the fritz, no way something-"

Immediately, a burst of light radiates from Levi's room, causing her eyes to go wide in shock, "What's Levi doing?!"

"I don't know, but…" Linka runs up to the group, "What's going on?!"

"We don't know!" Nell throws her arms up in surrender.

"Our Holo-Gear is going off." Alex continues, "Someone just pulled a big play, and now anomalies are flooding the dimension!"

"It can't be that bad-" Linka starts, only for Aeif to speak up.

"Link, the only reason why this place didn't fall apart sooner is because we've been sealing them as quickly as they've been popping up! This is faster than anything we're equipped to deal with, we have to plug it up!"

Linka nods, "Ok then, come on. Let's check out Levi's room." And with that, Linka rushes into the home, with the hunters following.

"What the?" Loki goes, before turning to Bebe, "Look, I know there's still some stuff we have to catch up on, but I gotta see what my sister's problem is, ok?"

"You got it Loki, I'll wait here for ya!" Bebe responds, and with that, her boyfriend gives chase. And once Loki starts running, the rest of the boys follow.

"Honey, something's up with the boys!" Rita declares.

"We have to check it out as well then." Lynn Sr. responds, causing the parents to come along too.

And without another word, everyone rushes back into the home and up to the young scientist's room.

"Levi, what's-" Linka kicks open her little brother's room, only to come face-to-face with ten familiar girls.

"G-girls?!" Linka looks at them in shock, "What- how?!"

"L-Lincoln?" Lori looks at the young girl, "Is that really you?" Linka doesn't hesitate to run over and throw her arms around the ten girls, "How'd you get here?!"

"Levi and I built a bridge to connect the two dimensions." Lisa answers, pride filling both of the sceintists. "You know, nothing out of the ordinary."

"This is my birthday present for ya 'sis'… your real siblings." Levi then steps forward, his voice filled with pain.

"What was it like here?!" Lola runs forward, while Lana comes to her side, "And what's it like having so many brothers?!"

"Girls, calm down." Linka chuckles, taking the girls in her arms as she does so, "Is now really the time to be asking this?"

Lucy immediately appears, "There might not even be a later. So we might as well ask now."

"Well I-" Linka starts.

"What the heck is going on?! Who are these girls?!" Lynn Sr. shouts as he angrily steps forward, "And why are they saying that you're their sibling?!"

"Oh right, just as stuff is barely making sense and we're trying to get our sibling back, you just have to pop up and ruin everything even further, other-Dad?!" Lori snaps before cracking her knuckles. "Looks like that's one of the things you and our dad share together: They can't get their noses away from business that's none of their concern, even if their lives depended on it!"

The rest of the sisters crack their knuckles as well, while Lori continues, "And trust me, if we don't get our brother back, your life will literally depend on it!"

Lynn Sr. just turns to Linka and glares at her.

"Girls calm down, he's our dad here." She motions for her sisters to relax, before turning to face the man, "Well dad… uhh…" Linka awkwardly rubs the back of her head, "I have a lot of explaining to do don't I?"

"Yes!" Everyone shouts in unison, while Lynn Sr. continues, "Let's start with who are these-"

 _ **"Warning… Anomaly burst inbound!"**_

"Uhh guys, I'd hate to break the moment, but take cover!" Nyla shouts, before the Ex-hunters hit the deck.

"What, why-" The male Lynn starts, only for an earthquake to shake the house for a moment, causing everyone who wasn't already down to fall, as well as causing the various trinkets and chemicals to fall from the shelves. Though, the portal remains active.

After that, everyone does their best to regain their bearing.

"What was that?!" Loki shouts in confusion.

"That was an anomaly burst!" Nell shouts, "A sudden increase in the amount of anomalies is taking its toll on this dimension!"

"We have to-" Alex shouts, only for an explosion to echo through the room.

"Dangit!" Nyla counters, as she types away at his holo-gear, "Guys, activate emergency teleport and grab whoever you can! Everyone else, run through that portal!"

"What the?!" Linka shouts as Nyla grabs her by the collar. _**"Emergency Transport activated! Returning to Base…"**_

And before she can even respond, everything goes dark.

9 23-15-14-4-5-18 23-8-5-18-5 20-8-5-25 23-5-14-20 9-14 20-8-5 13-21-12-20-9-22-5-18-19-5. 16-18-15-2-1-2-12-25 20-15 19-8-15-14-5-25-'19

 **A/N And that's the beginning of legacy! I hope you guys enjoyed! Though, I feel like this chapter could've been more exciting. What do you guys think?**

 **As always, I thank Wolvenstrom and Exotos135 for all of their help and ideas!**


	29. The Citadel

**A/N And I'm back! Man, it's May, finals are coming up soon and I just got a letter telling me I have to sign up for the selective service. Ahh, I can smell summer coming. Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoy! Also, info for my other story is in the bottom A/N.**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: The aftermath of the "Birthday To Remember". And the return of the sisters! (Planned).**_

Story Twenty-Nine: The Citadel

*Gasp!* "Ha. Ha." A young child jolts awake in shock. Their slow, deep breaths quickly fill the quiet room with a tense air. Without another word, they look around fear filling their body, " Where am I?" They quickly hop to their feet and pull on the nearby light switch.

And with a single tug, the room's green paint lights up, just as it has done for years. "I'm… I'm home?" They immediately turn to face the mirror. Rather than the nightgown they are used to wearing before going to bed, they are wearing a set of orange pajamas. The child's eyes go wide in shock, _"Does this mean?"_ immediately, they move their hand behind their head, checking to see if they still have the long, white locks they had gotten accustomed to, only to find the hair cut short.

They hear begins to race, _"This… this can't be real…"_ They then pull on their waistband, exposing a set of red underwear with a noticeable bump, " _I'm… I'm home…"_ Lincoln turns towards the nearby door _, "Was that… all a dream?"_ He looks upon his desk, and notices all of the books and trinkets he had acquired resting upon its worn wood, though a certain quantum physics book is absent. _"I guess it was…"_

He sighs in defeat, "Huh… well… I guess I have to talk to Lucy about her dream book stuff now." He reaches turns and grabs his doorknob, "Still, why did that feel so… real?" He lets out a deep breath and turns, _"Oh well, nothing a little time with the family can-"_

The door opens with that, revealing his ten sisters waiting for him, furious expressions held on their faces.

"Uhh, hey girls!" The boy nervously greets, "What's up?"

The girls don't respond, choosing instead to stare at him with fire in their eyes.

"Uhh, you guys ok?" He tilts his head as he steps back in a fearful confusion, "You uhh… look like something is buggin' you."

"Yeah, we're annoyed." Lori crosses her arms, "And I'm sure you know why."

Lincoln immediately raises his hands defensively, "I don't-"

"You abandoned us!" Lynn cuts him off as she steps closer to the boy, "You left us for some boys that were exactly like us!" She raises her fist, "And now look! You think that just because you were gone for six months, we're going to welcome you with open arms?!"

"But guys, I-" Lincoln then steps back, not noticing the home around him slowly break apart, "I only wanted to-"

Yet, before he can finish the thought, he falls back, causing him to bump into a familiar set of boys, "What the?" he turns, only to be met by the eldest brother's furious gaze. "Loki?!"

"You lied to us for months!" He clenches his fists in anger, "You lied, and took our sister from us! Then you expected us to treat her like she was!"

"Loki, I'm sorry I-" Lincoln holds his hands close, as if trying to shrink away from the fury.

"Shut up!" He shouts, before turning away, "I can't even look at you anymore!"

"And because of you, our home is destroyed!" Luke angrily steps forward, the young man too preparing to fight, "You took everything from us!"

Lincoln immediately tries to speak up, "Guys, I'm sorry I-"

And behind him, Lincoln notices Lane holding onto Lars, while they both try to hold back tears, "Why didn't you tell us Lincoln? We thought our sister had moved on." Lane's voice is filled with a bitter pain, "You…" he can't even finish the sentence before he breaks into tears.

"I'm sorry! I just- I didn't want to make a bigger mess than-" Lincoln starts, only for a soft clap to echo through the room, before maniacal laughter follows it. "What's going on?"

Suddenly the two sets of siblings disappear, allowing a certain white-haired girl to step into view.

"Linka." Lincoln grits his teeth, the home completely vanishing at this point.

"How was that stupid mission of yours?!" The young girl throws her head back in laughter, "From what I've heard, my home dimension is gone, and everyone you wanted to send me back to with it!"

"I- I-" Lincoln stammers.

Linka stares him dead in the eyes, "You've failed! And guess what, since I'm a girl again, I win!" She throws her head back in laughter.

"No… no, no, no!" Lincoln whispers with a hopeless tone, before he turns and runs away, through whatever ruins of the home remain _. "I haven't failed yet. I know it! I-"_ He frantically thinks, before a familiar voice calls out to him, "Wake up."

"William?!" He frantically shouts, "Where are you?!"

"Wake up." The voice repeats, gaining a more feminine tone as it does so.

"What?" He looks on in confusion, though he doesn't break his run.

"Wake up." He repeats, causing the world around him to disappear.

* * *

"Lincoln! Lincoln! Wake up!" Lori desperately shakes the boy-turned-girl. "We need you!"

And yet, the young girl chooses not to stir from her slumber.

"What are we going to do Lori?!" Leni fearfully asks as she and the other sisters frantically shake their sibling.

"Hmmm…." Lori hums, while she thinks, _"Dangit… she's not getting up…"_ she rubs her chin, " _Though… I wonder if this still works."_ With that in mind, she leans in close to Linka's ear and whispers, "Ronnie Anne is waiting at the door and she promised to shove a Sloppy Joe in your pants if you don't get up."

Immediately, Linka's eyes jolt open and she jumps to her feet in shock, "Ronnie Anne?!" She quickly looks around, "Where is she?!"

Without hesitation, Luna throws her arms around the girl, "She's nowhere Lincoln… is it really you?"

"What's going on? Where are we?" immediately, Linka looks around, panic filling her body, only for more sisters to rush her.

"Who cares about that?!" Lola shouts, before she runs over and grabs onto Linka's right leg. Lana follows it up with, "We're glad to have you back bro!" And she grabs onto her left leg.

"Lana, Lola?!" Linka stammers, only for Leni to join in, "Like, I didn't know we had another sister!"

"Poo-poo!" Lily grabs at Linka, while the baby rests in Luan's arms, "She says she's glad to have you back Lincoln." Luan throws her head back in laughter, "After all, you're **girl** to have!"

"We're glad you're all right!" Lori then joins in the pile-up, throwing her arms around her siblings as she does so, "We were so worried that something would happen to you!"

Linka smiles in relief for a moment, before finally going, "I'm glad you're here girls, but uhh… where are we?"

Lisa then steps forward, "Before we do anything else, let's make sure that the girl you are currently hugging is really our brother in a female body."

"Ok… how do you wanna do that, Lisa?" Linka asks, while the seven other sisters tighten their grip around her.

"Simple." She raises her hand, "What is your favorite sandwich?"

Linka tilts her head in confusion, "Wait… that's the question?"

"Yes." Lisa nods, "After all, the sibling we've spent the past months with, hates our real male sibling's favorite sandwich."

"Huh, ok then." The white-haired girl shrugs, "I love peanut butter and sauerkraut sandwiches."

Lisa's eyes go wide in shock, "It really is you!" She runs over and joins the group, "I missed you, brother."

For a moment, Linka looks on in shock. As if the mere idea of Lisa Loud showing an emotion other than bored indifference was nothing more than a foreign concept to her. "Don't worry girls, I'm all right." Linka smiles and lets herself get engulfed by the hug, "How's it been? I've been gone for six months after all."

"Six months?!" Lori shouts in surprise, "What do you mean six months?!"

"Yeah, I left home in October and have been living with those boys ever since." Linka then breaks free and looks into Lori's young eyes, "And it's the choice I'm still on the fence about. How about you?"

"Oh nothing much…" She nonchalantly shrugs, "Only nothing making sense anymore, no biggie."

"Heh, welcome to my world." The younger girl chuckles, before looking back up at her sisters, "But in all seriousness, what happened? Where are we?"

"I literally don't know…" Lori shrugs, while Lynn grabs onto Linka's hand, desperate to make sure nothing would happen to it.

And with that, the girls turn and look out into the vast space around them; millions of glowing lights and clouds surround them, illuminating the seemingly night sky with a vast array of colors. Oddly enough though, they stand upon a simple, rectangular metallic platform with lamps at each corner.

"Well… wherever we are, it like, looks nice." Leni finally goes, before a familiar voice responds, though no one notices the only man present looking around in both confusion and horror.

"We're in the inter-dimension." Nyla steps into view, "We're on my emergency transport platform, heading towards The Citadel. We'll be safe here for-"

Suddenly, the man scampers to his feet and shouts, "What the heck is going on?!" Lynn Sr. turns towards the young women grouped on the platform, "One minute we're at a party and the next these random girls walk through a portal!" He points at the girls, "And now we're standing in space!"

Linka sighs, "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag." She awkwardly rubs the back of her head. "Hey dad."

Immediately, Lynn Sr. points at the girls, "Linka?! Who are these girls and why do they look like your brothers?!"

"Well dad, umm, you see-" The girl starts, only for Lola to cut her off.

"Lincoln doesn't have any brothers!" The pageant queen throws her arms around Linka's leg again, as if trying to protect her sister from the man, "He's our brother and we're his sisters!"

"What are you girls talking about?!" The man points at the girl, "That's my daughter Linka, and I have no idea who you girls are!" before grabbing the girl and attempting to pull her to his side, "Now will someone explain what's going on?!"

Linka pushes the man off and takes a deep breath, "Dad… I'm not really your daughter."

"What are you talking about?" The man growls, throwing out his arm and leaning in closer as he does so, "Of course you're my daughter and I'm your father!"

"It's true… dad…" She hesitates on the word, "I'm not really your daughter." She holds onto her arm in embarrassment, "Really, I'm a boy from another reality that accidently replaced your real daughter. My name's not Linka… it's Lincoln."

The man shakes his head, "No, it's not true, what the heck are you talking-"

"It's true!" The white-haired girl's voice rises as she stares at the man, "I haven't been your daughter for six months!"

And yet, with a hopeful skepticism, the man simply asks, "Where's my daughter then?! I doubt you could answer that, because you're right here!"

Linka turns to Luna, though moves on when she notices her scrutinizing Nyla. Instead, she turns to her gothic sister, "Lucy… where'd you leave Linka?"

"We left her at the party." The black-haired girl answers.

With his frustration building, he shakes his head, "You know what… I'm just going to sit down and try to take in exactly what you told me." Lynn Sr. then walks away and takes a seat in the opposing corner. "Because I don't believe it at all!"

 _"Well… at least he's not breaking down yet…"_ Linka sighs in defeat, before she turns towards the nearby ex-hunters, with Nell standing next to Leni _. "I'm just worried what'll happen when that breaks."_

With that, she walks over and asks, "So uhh… where are we going, Nyla?"

Nyla points ahead, "We're going to the Anomaly Hunter HQ, there, I we should be able to find the boys."

"Got it… you sure that's a good idea though?" Linka tilts her head in curiosity, "They wanna turn us into cards after all."

Nyla sighs in defeat, "Why I wish we didn't have to go, we don't have another option, so might as well." Her voice flattens, before Lana grabs Linka's arm and pulls her back towards the sisters.

"Huh?!" She goes, only for the sisters to hug her once more.

Lori breaks the embrace this time, "So twerp, while we wait, why don't you tell us what it's like being a girl? After all, you were a guy before."

Linka chuckles, before sighing in relief, "Heh, ok girls, let's catch up." She sits down on the hard, metal platform, and turns to Lana, "And before you ask, I do have a boyfriend named Ron Andy, dresses feel nice since I'm a girl now, and I only forgot to sit down to pee twice."

Lana laughs, while the rest of the girls squeal in delight, before sitting down as well, before talking amongst themselves as if they aren't floating in the middle of nowhere.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Girls? Where are you?!" Lincoln walks into the small home he had called his own for the past six months, "Everyone's wondering where you are! We're getting ready to cut the cake!" And after a quick look around, she finds the bottom floor devoid of life, "You're not hiding from me, are you?!" She quietly climbs up the stairs, "You girls know what I'll do if you are!" She then steps onto the barren second floor, _"Strange… they usually respond sooner when I threaten his body."_

For a moment, he rubs his chin, _"Where could those girls be?"_ He then turns, catching a glimpse of the slightly open room of his youngest sisters, "Of course! They're in Lisa's room again!"

She moves as quickly as a person with a boot over one leg can, and forces her way into the room, "Lisa are you-" only for his eyes to fall upon a familiar man, "Huh, William, what are you doing here?"

"If you're looking for your so-called sisters, you won't find them." William glances at the boy in a dress, an expression of disgust forming on his face, "Those girls have attempted to rescue their brother."

"What?!" She goes in surprise, before anger fills her expression, "I told them not to or else I'd-" She starts, only for William to cut her off.

"Now is not the time for your asinine attempts to stay in this dimension." He scolds, before turning face the boy, "As it stands, your home dimension has been destroyed due to an influx of dimensional anomalies, and I am currently unable to do anything about it."

"That's great!" Lincoln cheers, bring his arms together in excitement, "That means I'll never have to go home!"

William grits his teeth in annoyance, "Yes, that is true." He holds his hands behind his back, "However, it also it means I need you to do more for me."

"Whatever, I got what I wanted, why would I ever want to help-" Lincoln turns away and crosses his arms.

The man grabs his shoulder and speaks with a cold, commanding voice, "Because if you don't, I will send you to a dimension where you and your siblings are all male. And from what I've seen, that isn't the most comfortable place someone could go."

"Whatever! You can't do anything to me. I've done everything you asked!" She counters, though fear does enter her voice, "There's nothing you can do that will make me want to help you again. None of your threats scare me!"

William stares at the stubborn boy, clenching his firsts as he does so, _"Is this… thing, serious?"_ He restrains the power building in his hands and simply grabs his amulet, "Fine, what do you want?"

Lincoln rubs his chin, "Well, since you want me to help you so bad, how about a place in your perfect world thingy?"

" _Seriously? Ugh."_ He mentally groans, _"If I didn't need this this person's help, I would send him to a random universe on the edge of reality."_ He then responds, "Very well." He fights the anger filling in his chest, choosing instead to breath out and let go of the small, blue necklace. "I promise I will give you a place in my perfect world."

"Great!" Lincoln turns and looks the old man in the eyes, while making sure to put his hands on his hips, "So what do you want me to do this time?"

"First…" he snaps his fingers. The small amulet glows with blue light with that, immediately causing Linka's numerous injuries to heal. "I need you to retrieve the remaining parts to a device I am building from the Anomaly Hunter unit. I can take you to their base, but you'll be on your own from there."

"Anything else I should know?" She tilts her head in curiosity.

"Don't get caught or else I can guarantee that." He responds, while thinking, _"I suspect Lincoln will be able to confront Lyle… but be unable to beat her. I need a second option… I wish I didn't have to work with this… worthless thing."_

"Well then, take me there." Lincoln flares his arms up, before hardening his gaze, "But if this is some sort of trick, I'll take the treasure for myself, got it?"

"Very well then." William nods, "But do not cross me, or I will send you to the edge of the multiverse." Then he punches the boy in the gut, causing his very spirit to shake in fear, "I can reduce you to nothing if I so chose."

"What?" Lincoln whispers, as she feels her very essence begin to wither.

"You heard me." He then releases his fist, and stands before her. And with a snap of the fingers, William transports the duo away.

 _ **A few hours later…**_

"We're here." Nyla declares as the small transport moves passed the clouds of the multiverse, giving rise to a massive, spike-like structure with a central glass dome. Three separate, smaller domes protrude from the core, while several metallic plates extend from the bottom; no doubt used to keep the structure stable within the chaos of the inter-dimension.

The twelve girls stand up and turn to the building, awestruck by the sight.

"Whoa, so is that the Anomaly Hunter HQ?" Linka asks, her drop dropping in shock.

"Like, yeah!" Nell responds, "If you ever need something from the Anomaly Control and Time Paradox Avoidance Squadron, this is where you go!" She points at the building, "Plus, if you ever need a place to stay for a bit, that's where ya go!"

Nyla remains silent, unsure of what else to say.

Lori then taps Linka's shoulder, causing the younger girl to turn to her, "Yeah Lori?"

"You still have to explain your deal with these anomaly hunter guys. Why do they want you so badly?" Luna steps forward, making sure her guitar is strapped to her back properly as she does so.

"They think I'm an anomaly, so they want me to turned into a card." The white-haired girl shrugs, "There's really not much else to say."

"So… what's the plan?" Lisa speaks up fearfully, "From the dreadful tone I hear in your voice, I suspect we're going into extremely hostile territory."

Linka hesitates for a moment, before sighing, "First, we have to find the boys."

"What?!" Lola throws her arms up in annoyance, "Why do we have to get those idiots?! We're your siblings, not them!"

"I know that Lola." Linka turns away from them, "But if I've learned anything from spending time with them, they're not just my siblings… They're my family too." Then, with determination filling her gaze, she turns back to her sisters and finishes, "And I'm not abandoning family."

The girls begin to talk amongst themselves, as if trying to debate whether or not to go along with the idea. Though, much to Linka's relief, Lori looks up at her and nods, "We're good. What else?"

Linka then sighs, and rubs the back of her head, "Then we have to find Lyle… I'll explain more when we find the boys, ok?"

"Ok." Lucy suddenly appears, though Linka remains unfazed, "But when we find them, we want answers."

"And you'll get them." Linka then turns to the ex-hunters, "Nyla, Nell, do you two have any way of finding the twins?"

Nyla begins to tap on her holo-gear, "Of course, when Luke gave them to me, I made sure to hide tracking devices in their gear." She taps a few more times, causing a small map to project from the device. The young woman stares at the map for a moment, before turning it off, "According to my map, they're coming in on the other side of the base. We'll be able to beat them to the abandoned hanger."

"Abandoned hanger?" Linka raises an eyebrow in interest.

"Simply put, the darn base is so huge, that one of the hangers never gets used." Nell looks at Linka in excitement, "I found it after I met you, almost as if fate wanted to make sure we had a way to get in!"

"Well then I know where we're going first." Linka turns to the family behind her, "You guys with me?"

The girls nod, while Lynn Sr. quietly stands up.

"Ok…" Linka turns to Nell, "Can you bring us inside?"

"Of course." Nyla taps her device a few more times, causing the emergency transport platform to rise and enter the small abandoned hanger. From what everyone can see, the place is completely deserted. With the equipment present covered in dust and dirt, no doubt accumulated from inter-dimensional travels.

"Remember girls, we can't get caught." Linka whispers, as the platform lands, "If we do, we'll get into cards!"

"Right." Nyla sighs, "Don't remind me." And with that, another emergency platform comes into the hanger, this one carrying the boys as well as Rita.

Immediately, Linka runs up and jumps into Loki's arms, "Guys! You're all right.

"Yeah, we're all right." Loki rubs her back, "Now I think-"

Yet, Loki stops when he catches sight of his father, confusion in his expression, "Loki... are you my son still?"

Loki nods, "Yeah."

"Care to explain what the heck is going on?" The man asks, his voice slowly filling with rage.

Immediately, twenty-two sets of eyes fall upon the young man, who can only sigh in defeat. "Well, I guess it's time I told all of you guys the truth." Loki thinks for a moment, before taking a deep breath and looking at his father, "Dad, we're all still your sons." He motions at the girl in the amazing dress that Leni is dimly admiring despite the situation, "Lincoln here accidently got sent here six months ago, which sent our Linka to his world, where instead of having ten boys and a daughter, that worlds version of you had one son and ten daughters. These girls are those daughters."

He then turns to the rest of the family, and motions towards the ex-hunters, "Nyla, Nell and the twins here are alternate versions of Luke, Loni, Lexx and Leif from other worlds." He rubs the back of his head, "We didn't tell you because almost everyone involved wanted to fix and get it done without worrying you" He then looks back at his father, "That's everything… you ok?"

The man grits his teeth, "And you seriously expect me to believe that?"

Loki and Linka shake their heads, "Of course not, but you can't argue with this!"

Lynn Sr. stands by for a moment, unsure of how to respond, choosing instead to clench his fists in anger.

"Dad… you ok?" Luke asks, while the other boys remain silent, as if they too are trying to process the truth.

"No. But now I know where to direct my anger." He then turns to the white-haired girl, "What the heck is the meaning of all of this?! Where's my daughter?!"

Linka immediately steps back in fear, "I don't know!" She desperately looks to her eldest sister, "Lori?"

Lori shakes her head, "We left her in the other dimension. She wouldn't have let us go otherwise."

Fury builds in the man's body, before he furiously turns to the boys and shouts, "That's it, you're all going to military school! You guys were supposed to protect your sister and now she's alone in another dimension!" He goes on with a fatherly fear, "What if she's alone, what'll happen if something happens to her?! You had one single job, and you failed to do it!"

Rita, on the other hand, remains silent, trying desperately to process everything. " _She's been gone for six months… does that mean… The girl I bonded with, wasn't my daughter?"_

Though, after close to ten minutes of ranting, finally "I don't want that sadistic excuse for a sister back!" Loki shouts, his voice filling with anger.

Only for Lori to counter with, "Well, we don't want her either!"

Rita then speaks up, "Wait, what?!"

Lori immediately continues, "That girl has made us worry about her for no reason, and has officially screwed with Lincoln's life to the point of near disrepair! At first we thought it was a phase, but then she started getting us to change ourselves for her!"

Luna then shouts, "She said my music was too loud!"

Luan adds, "She insulted my pranks!"

Lisa then adds on, "She threatened to cripple Lincoln's body if we tried to make her switch back with him!"

Loki then goes on, "And she didn't have much of a problem giving Lincoln those black eyes when he confronted her. She was willing to kill her old body so she could keep her new one, mom!"

Luke then adds on, "She says she wanted us to stop babying her, and she got over what happened years ago. But she still acts like the world owes her!"

"Now kids... Linka is your sister and-" Lynn Sr. shouts, a commanding air following in his wake.

And yet, Lars breaks passed it, and responds, "She insulted your parenting!"

Finally, Linka speaks up again, a soft, commanding air overtaking her as well, "And she doesn't care about you."

Immediately, Lynn Sr. grabs the girl and pulls her up to his face, "Watch your tongue you little-"

"Don't talk to my little sister that way!" Loki shouts, causing the man to turn to him in anger

"You just said she wasn't your sister!" Lynn Sr. counters, dropping the girl as he does so. "Why do you care about her if that's the case!?"

Yet, the cadet counters, "She's been more my sister in half a year than Linka's been in six! And you know what? She might just be right! You did a lousy job raising her! We all did." He sighs, "We smothered her until she suffocated, and ended up teaching her that she was the most important person in the world. We turned her into a selfish brat that doesn't care about anyone but herself."

Leif and Lexx look at each other, while Lane can't help but look at the floor, _"I… Linka… never really forgave me? I never…"_

"What are you talking about?!" He looks back in confusion.

"With all due respect, Linka is the worst!" Luke speaks up, pulling his guitar to his front as he does so.

"I can affirm that." Lars responds, with Levi adding" "As can I."

A fierce air overtakes take boys, while the girls can simply look on and watch.

"Should we do something Lincoln?" Lori quietly whispers, though Linka shakes her head.

"From what I've learned, this is normal, just let them sort it out." Linka quietly responds.

Lynn Sr. steps back in confusion, "What?! Are you telling me not one of you wants your sister back over this… this imposter?"

Loki doesn't hesitate. "No dad. I don't. And quite honestly, neither should you."

Lynn Sr. grabs his son by the shirt and slams him against the nearby transport. The young man grunts but doesn't break eye contact with his father. "You little troublemaker! You were supposed to protect her! I thought you'd learned your lesson, but you've been letting this faker do as she pleases for-"

Loki grits his teeth, "The better part of the year."

Suddenly, Lynn Sr.'s eyes go wide in shock, allowing him to only stammer, "Y-year?"

"Six months." The young man answers, Lynn Sr.'s hand loosening as he does so.

Yet, the man tightens his grip again, "No, no that's impossible. I know my daughter. She's been growing, sure, but all of it's been good and-"

Luke cuts his father off as well, "That was all Lincoln."

Lynn Sr.'s eyes start to lose their harshness as he loosens his grip over his son. He stumbles back a bit as the news slowly downs on him.

Rita's breathing gets louder, before she turns and leans into the nearby Nyla's shoulder, doing her best to hide her tears.

"Ev-everything?" Lynn Sr. asks in shock, as the realization falls upon him, as well as the brothers that didn't know already.

Loki nods sadly, "Everything dad." He at his other brothers, the boys too beginning to release the emotions they've pent up over the years, "Every single thing we've bonded over. Everything you've been proud of her for. Re-uniting with grandpa, all the friends she's made, the improved grades, the willingness to join in our things…" He looks at Leif and Lexx, "Protecting you and being a princess." Then Lane, "Choosing to help you in your play." Then moves onto Loni, "And going out with you…" His voice trails off.

Luke picks up for him, "All the fun we've had, all the pain and self-hate we've moved passed…" Though he too can't finish.

Lars then appears, causing only Lucy to jump in shock. He grabs onto Linka's hand, using his sister to give him strength, "That was all because of Lincoln…"

"But what about the real-" Lynn Sr. starts, though Loki cuts him off, knowing what he would ask, "She hates us."

Rita lets out a loud sob, before quieting down. No doubt the boys could feel the same, while the girls can't help but look at Lincoln in amazement.

"She resented the over-protectiveness. She told me she 'got over' the incident years ago, but was too busy hating us for caring about her to bother talking about it. She just sat back letting it stew and just waited for us to magically know what she was thinking without any help from her." Loki clenches his fists in pain.

And Luke finishes, "And since trading lives with Lincoln, all she's done is ruin it. Tearing apart his family almost as much as he's fixed ours. Breaking up with his girlfriend. Making everyone think he's gay. Threatening violence and using her new 'guy muscles' to get her own way, and even threatened to kill Lincoln when he tried to set things right. Whatever she is, she hasn't been our sister in a long time. She's nothing but a selfish, twisted little psychopath now!"

Silence overtakes the families with that, with only the soft sobbing of the boys as well as their father to fill the void. And for once, Lynn Sr. chooses not to tell them to stop crying.

"Guys, I know you just reunited and all, but… we're in The Citadel, we can't stick around for too long or else we'll get captured." Nyla chooses to speak up, "And I know none of us want to be turned into a card."

Linka then speaks up, "Agreed. We have to find the missing fragment and save your universe."

"Don't talk to me." Lynn Sr. coldly responds, before stepping over and comforting his wife with soft whispers. "I can't even look at you anymore.

"Ok…" Linka goes.

"So what's the plan then?" Lori asks.

Linka responds, "We need to get the last fragment"

The male Lynn Jr. asks, "What? And where's that… sis?"

"I'll explain everything later, but for now, you need to know that we have to go in there." She points at a nearby hanger door, "And we have to somehow get The Component from Lyle Loud."

"And how are we going to do that?" Luna speaks up, putting her hand on her hips as she does so

For a moment, Linka thinks, "I don't know…"

"Well, could you at least tell us who this 'Lyle' character is?" Lucy asks as she appears in front of the girl.

Nyla taps her Holo-Gear and answers, "She's a class three hunter."

Both Lisa and Levi adjust their glasses, before Lisa speaks, "I'm assuming from the amount of dread in your voice's inflection that your numbering follows the Defcon system instead of counting down."

Alex then responds by nodding, "Yeah. The only one above Lyle is the commander… and other class threes of course."

Luna walks over to Nyla, "Hmm, so if you're the other version of me..."

Nyla immediately responds, "I'm a version of you. The force has a lot more different version of nearly all of us." She mumbles, "We used to have more Lincolns. But some smartass 80's version named Lincooln passed himself off as the commander and abused the power for thee short time he had I in such a way they are still clearing up the mess today. But we don't have time to explain."

Luna nods, "Right. So who's this Lyle?"

"Oh that's like, easy!" Nell points at Luan and Lane.

Lane and Luan motion towards themselves and respond in unison, "Me?"

Nyla shakes her head, "No, look down."

Everyone looks at the contents of the comedian's arms. Two babies.

Nell then continues, "Lyle, like, comes from a universe were the family birth order was reversed. In her world Lori, or Loki is the baby. While she was the oldest."

Lori then rubs her chin, "So we have to fight a version of our baby sister... to get a fragment that is supposed to save the universe."

"Yeah." Linka nods, "I know it sounds crazy."

Lori shakes her head, "That's by far the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Linka nods, "I know the feeling, you get used to it."

"Look, I'm still trying to process everything…" Lynn Sr. then speaks up, "But what are we going to do."

"We have to get to her somehow." Linka sighs in defeat, "But I don't know how."

"Like, I know what we can do!" Nell shouts, much to everyone's surprise. "Like, if we disable the generators, we can force command to send in the class threes to deal with us."

"That could work!" Linka goes in excitement, "And since Lyle's a class three, she'll be forced to fight us!"

"Is that literally the only idea we have?" Lori crosses her arms, while Loki sighs, "Well, the boys and I have no choice, our universe just fell apart, no doubt yours will join it soon enough." The young man looks at his brothers, "I'm just worried that my bros won't be able to handle the truth that well right now.

"We'll… we'll be fine." Loni weakly answers, while Lynn looks away, mentally kicking himself at the thought of his sister actually wanting to do ballet with him. Lane remains silent as well, as do the twins.

"Fine." The girls sigh in unison.

Nyla rubs her chin, "But we can't wait for command to send out the class threes, we'll have to confront them head-on."

"And how will we do that?" Linka asks.

"Simple, we'll break in." Nyla answers, before the group huddles up and begins their plan. "We just have to reach the Central Operations Regular Emergency Room."

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

 _ **"Warning, warning, intruder alert! Intruder alert!"**_ The intercom goes as the group rushes through the halls.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?!" Linka shouts as she tries to desperately follow the nearby ex-hunters.

"Nope!" Nyla responds, before banking down a corner, "I rarely came here so I don't know the layout that well!" She turns down another, "Let's hope the girls and boys are able to take out the citadel generators before we get to the CORE Room!"

Suddenly, the group comes upon the massive double doors to the core of the citadel.

"Dangit! They're still locked…" Nyla's voice trails off in fear and disappointment.

"We have to keep hope!" Loki and Lori go simultaneously, only for the roaring sound of footsteps to drown them out.

"Dangit!" Nyla shouts, "We've got company!" Nyla raises her holo-gear, causing the computer to respond: _**Generating hunting field: Music Rush!**_

"I hope the others are literally doing better than us!" Lori stands her ground with Loki doing the same.

Lynn Sr. remains silent, while his wife smiles, as if a soft desire she had long since repressed starts to burn in her chest.

"It couldn't possibly be worse!" Loki raises his arms as well, while Luke and Lars follow suit.

"Whatever guys, we have to hang on as long as we can!" Linka raises the hardlight guitar that had appeared in her hands.

Nyla begins to strum with that, "Well whatever happens, don't lose!" And with that, the four of them begin to strum to their heart's content.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Halt!" A set of hunters charge at the second group of kids.

Nell quickly responds by hitting her Holo-Gear, causing the computer to respond, _**"Generating Hunting Field: Dance Dance Evolution!"**_ As well as generating direction pads under their feet.

"I still don't understand these games." Levi declares, while Loni responds, "Neither do I!"

Immediately, Loni grabs Levi and hoists him onto his back, "Hold on bro!" And with that, both Nell and Loni start hitting the pads, forcing the guarding hunters to fight… and promptly lose to the duo.

And with a burst of light green light, they end up as cards in Nell's hand.

"Like, you have got to show me how you do that." Leni goes in surprise, "It'll make storing all my dresses way easier."

Nell shakes her head, "I tried, all that did was make a hole in the floor… and I lost the cutest dresses!"

Loni and Leni both go, "Aww." In disappointment, before Nell motions towards a nearby computer, "Anyways, it looks like all of the other hunters are busy dealing with Nyla and Linka, let's turn off the generator!"

And with that, the group walks into a small room with a beam of light emanating from a small device in the center, feeding into a small orb of light.

"You sure you know how to do it, sis?" Luna asks as she watches Nell run over and begin typing in the computer.

"Yeah, computers were never your thing!" Lynn shouts.

"Like, yeah! All you gotta do to turn off one of these things is to overload the generator part! They always forget to put a limiter on it!" And with a few taps of the keyboard, the beam of light increases in strength, causing the small orb to expand. And within a few moments, the orb breaches its confines and disappates.

" _ **Warning: Core Alpha Offline!"**_

"We did it! One care down, two to go!" Leni goes in excitement, only for the sound of footsteps to echo through the room.

"We're not done here yet guys." Luna raises her guitar with that, while the female Lynn Jr. raises her fists.

And within moments, a group of hunters rushes into the room.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"We're here, the shield generator!" Aeif goes, before turning to Lisa, "I need you to disable this thing!"

Lane and Luan as well as the male Lynn and Lucy stand by.

"But how?!" Lisa flares her arms up in fear. "I've never dealt with anything this advanced before!"

"I don't know, but you have to!" Aeif raises his holo-gear, "I don't know how much fodder I can handle before I end up overrun!"

" _ **Generating Hunting Field: Dinomic Powerload!"**_

"Now get to work!" Laser weapons appear in the young boy's hand, as well as the other siblings.

"Aeif, you know I'm a lousy shot!" the male Lynn declares, before ducking behind a nearby console for cover.

"Well, at least you're not a **Lucy shot!** " Lane puns as both he and Luan hide as well.

"Hey! That was a great one!" Luan responds, "How about, you're gonna have a **blast!"**

Both Luan and Lane throw their heads back in laughter… though Lane's smile seems to be less sincere than looks would suggest.

"Would you two stop making puns and protect Lisa?! This is **not** the time!" Aeif climbs onto another console and fires her hardlight blaster, causing several hunters to end up as cards, "There's too much fodder to handle on my own!"

"Wanna make this Super Hot?!" Luan asks, before she jumps from cover and fires her weapon as well.

Lane responds by shooting a hunter wielding a hardlight sword, "Don't bring a laser sword to a laser gunfight unless you've got the force!" The duo laughs in response, only for laser burst to whizz right passed them.

"It's a good thing these guys have the aim of stormtroopers!" Lynn jokes, while he fires as well… only to miss just as many shots as the hunters.

"Ugh, whatever!" Aeif joins the front, "Lisa, how are things going?!"

Lisa types away frantically, desperate to figure out a way, "I got it! Force them to concentrate fire on me!"

"What?! Are you crazy?!" Lynn shouts, while Luan puns, "You, you're gonna break **bearing!** "

Lane chuckles, "I get it!"

"No I'm not! If the console goes, so does the generator!" Lisa responds, before ducking to the side. Immediately, the five kids stand next to each other, before jumping to the sides, causing the fodder to blast the console.

Immediately, the core beam stops feed the orb of energy, allowing it to disappear into nothingness.

" _ **Warning: Core ßeta Offline!"**_

"We did it!" Aeif goes in excitement! While the others begin to cheer.

Only for another round of lasers to fire.

 _ **With the third team…**_

"G'ahh!" Alex shouts as a hunter's attack forces him back, "Levi, guys, you gotta hurry up! I don't know how long I'll be able to last with these hunters getting in the way!" The young boy raises his arm, determined to protect his new family members.

" _ **Generating Hunting Field: Union Hanger!"**_

Immediately, hardlight controls appear at the remaining sibling's fingertips.

"Guys! Build stuff to protect Levi!" Alex commands, and immediately Lily and Leon tap away at their controls, causing hardlight blocks to come together into walls and weapons of all kinds, leaving the hunters trying to fight desperate for a break.

Lola, makes sure to create a magic wand to fight with, while Lana uses an oversized hardlight frog.

"Remind me never to mess with Lily when we get home." Lola flatly commands as she hits random hunters with her weapon.

"No promises sis!" Lana shouts as she jumps and smacks the fodder with her plunger, while the frog runs through their formation like it's nothing.

"How's that computer going Levi?!" Leif asks as both he and his brother ride into the oversized hallway with a Humvee equipped with an oversized cannon, though the hunters present quickly counterattack with their own, hardlight shield.

"Almost… there…" Levi then stops, smacks himself and shouts, "Duh, why didn't I think of that sooner?!" He runs around the console and shouts, "Disabling generators now!"

And with that, he pulls out the core connecting the console to the generator.

Immediately the stream of light fades away, allowing the orb to dissipate as well.

" _ **Warning! Core**_ _**Γamma Offline! Switching to emergency power!"**_

And with that, every Holo-gear shuts off, before rebooting.

"We did it!" Alex shouts.

"No duh!" Leif goes sarcastically, "But we've still got more fighting to do!"

And with that, the group stands and holds its ground.

"There's too many of them!"

* * *

"They did it! Come on guys!" Linka shouts as she turns to the, now open, entrance to the CORE Room.

"You go inside! We'll handle the fodder!" Nyla declares, "We can't risk you getting carded for no reason!"

"But what about you guys?!" Linka goes in fear, while Rita and Lynn Sr. quickly run inside.

Loki and Lori both look back at their sibling, before Loki goes, "We'll be fine."

Lori then continues, "We're still your favorite siblings, right?"

Linka nods, "Of course." And with that, she turns and rushes into the dark CORE Room.

She slowly walks forward, _"Where are you Lyle?"_ And with that, the lights flash on, allowing her to come face-to-face with one Lyle Loud. The young woman holding a pair of cards in her hands.

"Well it looks like you're one eager anomaly huh?" she quips, "You shouldn't let our parents out of sight, they're really easy to card."

"I've come to retrieve the component you stole from my dimension!" Linka points at her. "And release my parents now!"

Lyle immediately counters, "What? Do you mean the artifact I have retrieved?" She shoves the cards in her jacket pocket, "I will never relinquish it. It will be used to hunt more anomalies."

Linka grits her teeth in annoyance, _"I have to get that part!"_ Suddenly, an idea comes to her, "Well, you may use it for the hunt, but you can't use it as effectively as I can with this!" she raises her wrist and motions towards the golden watch resting on it, "Besides your gonna leave when there are three more fragments standing twenty feet away from you.

"My mission was simple, prevent the artifact from being lost." She raises her holo-gear. "I have no use for more. You cannot-"

"Well, I want it!" Linka counters, "I don't care you don't want them. I challenge you for the fragment you took!"

"So?" Lyle shakes her head, "I-"

Suddenly, a masculine voice echoes over the intercom, "They made the challenge Hunter. You must accept."

"Grr." Lyle growls, "Sir with all due respect, they are right here, in the CORE Room. We can just send in the class ones, take them out easy and…"

The Commander counters, "Irrelevant. Once a challenge is given, you must accept or face elimination yourself. You have proven yourself an asset thus far Lyle. However your class three status does not mean you will not be sealed away for repeated failure…. Though given it is their challenge, you choose the field."

"Very well commander." Lyle then types away at her Holo-Gear.

" _ **Generating Hunting field: So...So...So...So-So-So-"**_ The computer begins to glitch out.

"What the heck wrong with that thing?!" Lyle complains. "Can somebody fix it?!"

" _ **Soooooooo."**_ The computer goes silent with that… only to immediately shout, " _ **GEN-SOooooOOooo-SooooOOoooo!"**_ Causing the field to generate around them.

"What the heck?!" Lyle shouts as both she as Linka take in their area. The generated field looks like a corrupted version of Sogen; the grassy fields are purple, while its floor constantly glitches, and an incessant amount of bugs fly around the place like it is nothing. Literal bugs, and errors alike.

A moment passes, before Lyle's eyes go wide in realization, " _Wait, now I know what's wrong with this thing! It's malfunctioning thanks to the presence of multiple anomalies!"_ Lyle snaps a look at Linka, " _But the only anomaly around is this girl. Unless... there couldn't be another anomaly around, could there?"_

Just before Lyle can look around for the other anomaly, the girl gets ready to fight her.

"No matter, I have some pests to card!" Lyle raises her Holo-Hear defiantly.

And with that, they enter a fight in the corrupted field, as a shadowy figure watches from nearby…

20-8-5-18-5 9-19 7-15-15-4 1-14-4 5-22-9-12 9-14 20-8-5 3-8-1-15-19 15-6 18-5-1-12-9-20-25, 2-21-20 23-8-9-3-8 23-9-12-12 16-18-5-22-1-9-12?

9 23-15-14-4-5-18 9-6 20-8-5-25'12-12 18-21-14 9-14-20-15 2-12-5-14-4-9-14 2-12-1-14-4-9-14!

 **A/N And that's the Segway that took all day to finish! I sure hope it was worth it! I'm now extremely exhausted. I thank everyone who is reading, reviewing and encouraging me to continue!**

 **Also, for those that read my "Finding A Loud" story, it was updated yesterday, but due to site error, no notification email was sent.**

 **And as always, I thank Exotos, Wolvenstrom, and Insane Master Writer Studio for their help!**


	30. Completing The Puzzle

**A/N Ahh, 30 weeks of consistent writing, and over 50,000 views! Who would've expected this? At this point the story is 50% longer than I had originally planned it to be, not that I'm complaining. Happy Mother's Day! Wow, I just realized how many holidays fall on Sunday this year! Heh, makes it easier for me to reference them! Also, there's a note about updates for the next 2-3 weeks at the end.**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: The Confrontation has arrived! Lincoln vs. Lyle! (Planned).**_

Story Thirty: Completing The Puzzle

A warm breeze flows into the climate-controlled CORE Room. The soft turquoise light from the reactor sphere illuminates the nearby hunting field, causing the soft, glitching particles to fly amongst the purple blades of grass as if they are tiny fireflies.

Two young woman stand in the center of this battlefield. The first- Linka- stands with a hardened gaze and her hands held up in fists in front of her; almost as if she is preparing to fight. Her soft white hair glows in the turquoise light, while the second- Lyle- simply holds her arms at her side.

A moment of tense silence passes between the two women; with only the sounds of the nearby firefight outside to fill the void.

 _ **Hunting Field Malfunction Detected! Proceed with hunt? [Y/N]**_

Lyle doesn't break eye contact with the young girl s she raises her and whispers, "Yes, override code L-152."

 _ **Override code accepted! Voice command activated!**_

"Initialize combat mode, field: Sogen." She continues, "Function zero, one, zero, zero, one, one, zero, zero." After that, she readies her fists.

 _ **Command input accepted.**_

And with that, a small column of light appears next to the lavender-clad hunter. She then pulls out the final fragment- a small, silver ring with two purple crystals at the opposing ends, "Is this the artifact you are looking for?"

Linka nods, "Yes. It is."

"For our battle, it will be moved to storage. If you defeat me, it will be given to you as a prize." Her gaze hardens with a professional strength, "However, if I win, you will be sealed away for eternity." She stares Linka in the eyes with that, "Do you accept these terms?"

" _I have to win. I have to save dimension sixty-three! I have to finish the Macguffin!"_ With a soft determination rushing through her veins, she nods, "Yes, I accept. What is your challenge?"

"A duel." She raises her arms.

"Where are the cards?" Linka looks on in confusion for a moment, only for a light blue hardlight sword to appear in her right hand, while a hardlight shield appears in her left. "Oh, this type of duel." She tightens her grip around the weapons, "Ok then."

 _ **First one to disarm and neutralize the other wins!**_

With that, Lyle throws out her left arm, causing a shield to appear over her holo-gear emitter, while she unsheathes a saber about the same length as Linka's weapon. Its curved blade is made of a mix of purple, blue and white materials. Its scars breathe of the countless battles Lyle had used it in.

 _ **3… 2… 1… Fight!**_

"En Guard!" Lyle shouts as she jumps at the young girl in front of her.

Immediately, Linka responds by holding her shield up to block the assault, _"I can't let her get ground on me!"_

Yet, Lyle reacts quickly, choosing to bounce off the hardlight shield and jump back, allowing her to land on her feet and reengage. _"I can't handle her one-on-one."_ ' Fear fills Linka's body as she blocks the incoming assault as desperately as she can, _"My best bet would be to block her attacks until I can find an opening!"_ With that though, Linka dodges one of Lyle's swings, jumps and rolls away from the hunter.

The older woman wastes no time chasing after the young girl. "You will not escape me that easily!" She jumps and spins at Linka, with the young girl only able to attempt to block… Lyle's blade makes contact with the shield, causing it to fly off Linka's arm, and disappear into nothingness.

"This is how worthless you anomalies are!" Lyle proceeds to send her elbow into Linka's gut, before grabbing her by the shirt and flinging her at the nearby wall.

"G'ahh!" Linka shouts as her back makes contact with the hardlight barrier, causing some of the already glitchy field to break off, revealing the CORE Room underneath. Immediately, she holds tightens her grip on her sword and gets back on her feet, now clutching her injured gut, _"That's a bad idea, I can't keep it up like this! I gotta fight back!"_

"Did you seriously think you could handle the skills of a class three hunter?!" Lyle taunts before rushing at Linka once more she rushes at Linka, making sure to change her shied into a second, albeit hardlight, sword as she does so, "Winning in a card game is one thing, but beating me in my favorite game is another!"

Yet, Linka doesn't give up, she grabs onto her sword with both arms and hardens her gaze, "Oh yeah?! I'm not an anomaly! If I've learned anything from my time as Linka Loud, I know that there is more to something then what it seems!" And with that, she swings, blocking the dual-sword attack.

"As if I cared!" Lyle raises her blades once more and swings again. This time, forcing Linka to hold her sword back to block the attack. "You can say whatever you want, but you're still an anomaly! One of the very beings that brought me into this hell of a job just to continue living! Either you die or I die, and there's no other way around it!"

 _"I can't give up! I need to get that fragment!"_ Linka frantically thinks as more sword swings and attacks cut her already bruised skin, _"I hope the others are doing all right!"_

 _ **Meanwhile, at Core Alpha…**_

"This isn't good!" Luna shouts as works to keep her movements flowing carefully.

Despite their constant fighting, the waves of anomaly hunters don't seem to let up, forcing the group to keep on dancing.

"I don't know if I can keep dancing passed these guys!" She backflips on her board, causing her point counter to top one hundred, instantly carding the squad of hunters in front of her.

"Just keep dancing!" Nell shouts before she gets on her head and spins, "These class one's can't last forever!" And just like with Luna, her counter breaks the win threshold, immediately carding her opponents.

"Yeah and neither can we!" Luna turns to the nearby Loni and Leni, making sure to keep moving as she does so, "How are you two doing?!"

"Like, I can't feel my legs anymore!" Leni nonchalantly answers, while she jumps back and forth on the directional pad.

Loni nods in agreement, "Like, tihs hurts a lot!" he mirrors Leni's uncontrolled movements.

Nell shakes her head, "Just keep fighting! We've gotta win! We can't let Lincoln down!" He legs slowly begin to quake in exhaustion, as do the other's.

A frantic air fills the room as more and more hunters begin to swarm core Alpha in hopes of overrunning the group.

"We can't give…" Nell starts, only for her to trip and fall in exhaustion, followed by the rest of the intruders. And before anyone is able to get back on their feet, multiple colors burst through the room, turning the group into cards.

 _ **At core**_ _ **ß**_ _ **eta…**_

"I don't know how long we can last!" Lane ducks and rolls behind cover once more, before holding his weapon above the console and blind firing.

"According to my calculations, your reserve batteries should run out in about five minutes!" Lisa declares as she ducks behind Aeif, desperate not to get blasted by the incoming ordinance.

Luan immediately responds, "Your calculations are imaginary!" She then throws her head back in laughter. "Almost like everything happening right now! This is all just a dream and we're gonna wake up in just a few minutes!"

"I don't get the pun!" Aeif goes, "And I don't care! Just keep shooting, we can't let them reboot the core!"

"That'll be hard, given the fact that they shot it!" Lynn shouts, before she jumps and rolls, taking out more anomaly hunters as he does so. "But still, we're not going to last too long without some backup!"

Lane turns to Luan, the young woman continuing to fire as frantically as she can, "Luan, calm down! You're going to be fine!" A single memory enters the young man's mind, "I promise, we're all going to be fine."

Luan responds by continuing to laugh her head off.

"Whatever! We'll be fine! Just keep shooting!" Aeif then jumps from his cover and pulls his weapon's trigger once more… only for no burst of light to fire.

"Dangit." He mutters as the group weapons disappear with a trail of dust. And with that, another burst of light fills the room, turning them into cards as well.

 _ **At core**_ _ **Γ**_ _ **amma**_

"Poo-poo!" Lily and Leon both shout as they randomly create massive beasts to take out the hunters.

"This is going great!" Lexx shouts, while Lola counters, "Yeah! I feel like I'm the queen of these idiots!"

"Don't get too cocky now!" Alex uses his gear to create an oversized scepter… which he then uses to bash several hunters over the head with, "Just cause these guys aren't too creative, doesn't mean my gear isn't going to run out of power eventually!"

"Poo-poo!" The babies respond, before more oversized toys fill the room.

"I don't know about you, but those two see happy!" Lana holds onto the frog while Leif holds onto her.

Leif stands up and raises his arms, "Yeah! Lana, let's do the frog rodeo!"

"You got it Leif!" And with that, the oversized frog begins to rampage through the core room, instantly carding every hunter in their way.

Alex chuckles, "Yep, you guys are my counterparts all right!" He then jumps up and raises the scepter, "Go Mega Sword Laser Buster!" Immediately, the center begins to charge up… only to immediately disappear from sight.

"Wait what?!" Alex goes in shock, as the other imagined weapons and animals disappear. "Uh-oh."

And with that, they are turned into cards as well

 _ **Back by the CORE Room…**_

"It's a truth that in love and war, worlds collide and hearts get broken!" Luke sings before Luna adds, "I wanna live like I know I'm dying!" Before Nyla adds, "Take up my cross, not be afraid."

Then together, the three counterparts sing, "Is it true what they say, that words are weapons and if is then everybody best stop steppin' cause I've got ten in my pocket that'll bend ya locket, I'm tired of these rockers sayin' come with me!"

And immediately, their opponents disappear into cards.

They pant in exhaustion for a moment, before Luke speaks up, "I'm runnin' out of songs girls!"

"So am I!" Luna adds on, "These guys are just too much!"

"Just keep fighting! We'll get passed them eventually! We can't let them get into the CORE Room!" Nyla responds, before strumming even more.

Luna turns to her older brother and her male counterpart, "How are you two doing?!"

Loki responds by singing, "I know how she feels at night, standing all alone!" He turns to the girls, with Lori trying desperately to come up with another song to sing, "Would you tell me what's real and right, cause I don't know anymore."

His female counterpart intervenes, "And all this is starting to kill me inside, to see these walls are crashing down. The heartless acts and the selfish sounds, with all that trying, she stopped fighting." Then Loki continues, "While darkness, darkness took her away! Oh I tried, but I couldn't stop the pain."

Then together they sing, "She likes to look at the bottle, from the bottom, every time she looks in the face of the bottle, from the bottom, she sees a life that was so much different when she was a young girl! She could stand on top of the hillside screaming, to the world, to stop the curse. She begged and prayed that someday she'd see a change!"

And sure enough, more hunters end up carded in their wake.

"This was a horrible idea!" Loki quips, while Lori makes sure to counter, "Yeah? Well it's the only one we had!"

"Just keep strumming! We'll be done with them soon enough!" Nyla shouts, only for more hunters to come to the field.

And with that, the protectors guarding the CORE Room are overrun, resulting in them being turned into cards as well.

* * *

Immediately, the class one hunters swarm the now unprotected CORE Room and stumble upon the fight going on inside. And they waste no time raising whatever Holo-Gears that still have working batteries, as they prepare to intervene.

"Stand back!" The commander shouts, "This is Lyle's fight, do not interfere!"

A class one hunter steps forward, "With all due respect sir, why are they fighting here? This is the reactor core of the base!"

"This anomaly is interesting. She has challenged a class three hunter of her own volition." The commander's voice is filled with an unsettling calm. "Lyle should be able to handle her on her own. Meanwhile, I want you to stand guard and get those reactors back up!"

"Understood sir!" Another class one steps forward, "Also, reports have just come in, the rest of the intruders have been carded!"

"Good." The commander declares. "It's a sad thing that needed to be done, but at least, everything will be over soon." And with that, the commander turns back to the fight raging by the CORE reactor.

* * *

"This is why you don't mess with the AEU!" Lyle roundhouse kicks Linka into a nearby wall, causing more of the already unstable hunting field to disperse. She then calmly steps closer to the young girl, "It's time I finish this job.

" _I can't keep fighting… she's just too strong…"_ Hopelessness fills Linka's body with that, as Lyle stands over her, prepared to deal the finishing blow.

" _Don't give up yet!"_ A voice cries out! _"Remember why you're fighting!"_

A cloud of darkness surrounds Linka's mind for a moment, as the world around her grinds to a halt. _"But what can I do? I'm surrounded by the hunters and Lyle's about to turn me into a card!"_

Immediately, the golden watch glows with soft light, before the three fragments she had retrieved appear in front of her, each in the hands of the spirits she encountered. The orange being speaks up, her body no longer as glitchy as when they first met, "You've got us, remember?"

"Yeah, you've impressed me before, so why don't you do it again, by using me to my fullest?" The green spirit quips, "I mean, seriously, you beat this Lyle girl before, why don't you do it again?"

"But that was different!" Linka holds her arm as she looks away from the three spirits, "I had my brothers to help me every time I went up against one of these hunters…" She lets out a hopeless breath, "And now… I don't even know where they are…"

The purple figure holding the filament steps forward with that, "Look, I know you probably don't like me for messing with your friend, but…" She holds up the golden fragment and uses them to open a small portal, "Every since I joined you, I've seen what you did for them. That was all you."

Segment then continues, "I'll admit, you're the first counterpart to actually get this far and collect so many of us!" She puts her hands on her hips, "I mean, usually, you Lincolns don't even reach the second one, let alone the third!"

Filament disappears and reappears behind the white-haired girl, "Yeah! And now you've gotta impress us again!"

"But how?!" Linka goes, "I'm alone…"

Material chuckles, "You're never alone, you've got us." She then steps forward as well, "And since you're a Lincoln, you can use us." And with that, she places a finger on the young girl's heart, "And your family is with you in spirit." Then, the three spirits glow with soft, white light.

* * *

"It's over!" Lyle raises her blade, "Your family has no doubt been defeated. Now die!"

Linka opens her eyes with that, and immediately raises her left arm to defend. The Matter Key Watch glows with soft orange light as the Segment appears over it, blocking Lyle's sword.

"What the?!" Lyle goes, before Linka immediately pushes her back. The class three hunter wastes no time recomposing herself, "Where the heck did you get that shield?!"

The younger girl gets back on her feet, "I don't know, and I don't care." The segment glows once more, "I'm fighting, and I'm getting the Component!"

Lyle raises her swords in defiance, "No matter! You're still and anomaly, and no power can allow you to beat me!"

"I don't care what you think, I'm Lincoln Loud of dimension C-137, and I will save my home!" She grits her teeth, "Both of them."

Linka can feel a newfound determination filling her body, _"I have to keep fighting. No matter what, I'm never alone."_ And with that, her watch glows with soft green light, causing the Material to appear in her right hand, "Ready for round two Lyle?"

"Round one never ended." Lyle then grits her teeth and charges at the young girl.

Immediately, Linka counters by raising the Segment to block.

"Shield or no shield, I will not fail!" Lyle then jumps and spins at Linka, yet, the young girl holds her ground.

Then, just as Lyle is about to make contact, Linka glows with orange light and disappears.

"What the…" Lyle lands on her knees, "Where'd she go?"

"Ha!" Linka shouts as she dives at Lyle. Instinctually, the young hunter raises her Holo-Gear in an attempt to block, and with that, the Material Stands the device.

 _ **Warning, Holo-gear Damaged…**_ The computer declares, and yet, Lyle doesn't give in, "Whatever, I don't care, I will fight!"

She pushes Linka off and rushes once more, "You are an anomaly!"

"No I'm not, but maybe you are!" Linka's watch glows with soft purple light for a moment, before the Filament appears on the young girl's back.

Instantly the duo's swords clash once more, the time, sending both girls back, as well as carving up more of the glitching field.

Murmurs echo from the surrounding crowd, as they simply look on in shock.

Immediately, Lyle gets back on her feet, while Linka uses the Segment to teleport back in front of her. "I'm fighting, and as long as my family is fighting to protect me, I won't give up!"

Lyle pushes Linka away, "Your family has probably been swarmed and carded, why do you still fight?!"

More determination fills Linka's body, "I'm fighting because I want to save my home, and my families!" she swings the material at Lyle once again, though this time the sword-like device glows with soft blue light.

"And I fight to save other worlds!" Lyle raises her Holo-Gear to block while she swings her weapon as well.

Then, the Material and the Holo-Gear make contact once more.

 _ **Warning, Memory reader malfunction!**_

"What the?" The two girls go as the malfunctioning Sogen field disappears. Suddenly, the platoon of hunters disappears, giving rise to a familiar kitchen.

" _What's going on?!"_ Linka thinks as Lyle pushes her away.

"Hey Lincoln!" What seems to be a younger Lyle walks into the room. "I finished helping Lisa with her experiment, so now I'm all yours!"

" _Is this, Lyle's story?"_ Linka immediately dodges another one of Lyle's attacks by teleporting out of the way, allowing her to watch the scene unfold.

"Get back here!" Lyle shouts as she turns back to Linka.

Meanwhile, Linka watches as past Lyle takes a seat next to her Lincoln.

"Hey Lyle. I got this for you!" The Lincoln pulls out a small amulet, "I know your birthday is coming up, and since it'll be hard to give this to you then…" He pulls out a small, star-shaped locket. "Here…"

Past Lyle takes the small ornament in her hands and smiles.

And with that, the feed cuts out.

Suddenly, the realization hits her, _"Lyle…"_ Immediately, Linka dives down once more.

"Stay still!" Lyle complains as she jumps and swings once more.

"Why are you fighting Lyle?!" Linka dodges and lands on her feet.

"Isn't it obvious?!" Lyle shouts, before charging once more. "Anomalies destroyed my home! They took my family from me!" She then swings once more this time, forcing Linka to block the attack.

"I'm trying to save my home too! My family, my home, my Lyle!" The girl shouts as she pushes the class three hunter off.

"Lies! You're just-" Lyle can only start.

"I'm my universe's Lincoln!" Linka finally shouts.

For a moment Lyle pause, as if slowly trying to take in those words. Yet, she simply grits her teeth, "Whatever! My Lincoln is gone! I joined the AEU in order to find a way to save my brother!"

"So you've chosen to fight one of his counterparts" Linka teleports behind Lyle, "My Lyles are just babies, and I know I'd want to protect them!"

"Hold still…" Soft tears begin to fill Lyle's eyes as the memories she had long since repressed begin to flood her mind once more. "I'll…"

"Stop fighting." Linka appears in front of her, "And together, we can save them all."

Lyle responds by punching the girl and looming over her.

"Lyle…" Linka looks up with a heartfelt gaze, choosing instead to close her eyes.

"I…" Lyle drops the blade, "I… I could never forgive myself…" she pulls out the small locket, "My Lincoln died…" She falls to her knees, "When I found this artifact… I realized that it can manipulate time, but because I don't know how to use it… when I saw you, I wanted to card you and find out how…" tears stream down her cheeks before she looks the young girl in her eyes. "Lincoln… you're his counterpart right?"

Linka nods, "Yeah…"

Lyle looks at the girl, before painfully looking away, "I yield… you may claim your prize."

And with that, Linka shakes her head, "Lyle… I don't want you turned into a card."

"What?!" Lyle's eyes go wide in shock, "Why?! I… I tried to card you! I…""

"Because you don't deserve it." Linka immediately answers, "You're only doing your job; a job that sucks, but still a job." She stands up and offers her hand to the class three hunter, "You were close to your brother too."

"Thank you…"Lyle takes the young girl's offer and gets up on her own, weak knees.

"But in return, I want you to uncard my family and friends… if they are cards of course."

Lyle remains silent, as if trying to understand what is happening right in front of her.

"Interesting proposal!" A voice echoes, " Hunters, free the intruders you had just captured!"

And with that twenty-six orbs of light emanate from the crowd of hunters surrounding, revealing everyone who had been captured.

"Ugh." Loki groans as he and the rest of them rub their heads in pain. "What happened?"

"Guys!" Linka shouts as she runs over and throws her arms around the boy. "You're all right!"

"Heh, I guess we are." Lori speaks up, before joining in the small hug with Loki.

Immediately, the Louds begin to fill the already crowded room with more noise, while they ask, "What happened? What're those things you're wearing? Where are we?"

Linka responds by motioning her family to calm down, 'Don't worry guys, everything's fine. I just beat Lyle here, and now it's time for her to fulfill her end of the-"

Yet, before Linka can finish, a figure walks through the now open door… and despite who he looks like, the girls, save for one, blush.

Suddenly Linka remembers the real Linka mentioning that according to Lisa's tests they, or at least his original body, would become the tallest member of the house when he was done growing. She couldn't picture it before, but looking at the young man now, it all comes together.

"Hello there!" The man goes, as a familiar tuff of hair shines in the soft reactor light.

Linka turns to face the man and hardens her stance, "Who are you?!"

"I am the leader of the Anomaly Elimination and Time Paradox Avoidance Squadron, Commander Colin Dullon." He crosses his arms and gives a soft smile, "And by the looks of it, I'm one of your counterparts."

"Wait, that's what Lincoln is going to grow up to look like?!" Lori shouts and points at the young man, before the girl's faces go red and they join in the pointing, "Buh buh buh buh…"

"Well this is unexpected." Linka goes with a chuckle, before motioning him to stop, "Look I know you wanna meet me and stuff, but I need that fragment!"

"All right, all right." The man motions for the girl to calm down, before snapping his fingers, "Here ya go." He moves his hands out, and the Component descends in a column of light, "Here is your prize, one artifact."

He smiles, "You know, we could use- oof!" A small blade pierces his gut, causing the man to collapse from shock, "What the?!"

Immediately, everyone's eyes fall upon his assailant, a young, white-haired boy in an orange dress, now holding the component in his hands.

"Linka." The girl grits her teeth.

"Hello Lincoln." She throws her head back in laughter, "Long time no see, huh?"

"Where did you come from?!" Linka tightens her grip on her shield and sword.

"A friend of mine brought me here." She chuckles as she scrutinizes the device, "He told me to grab this thing and stuff."

"Give it here! I need that!"

Lincoln scoffs at her, "Nah, I was promised a place in his perfect world if I got this trinket for him." He begins to spin it on his finger, "I don't know why though." She then puts it on her head, "And frankly I don't care." Suddenly, the fragment glows, bathing the young boy in pink light.

Linka immediately raises her Matter Key Watch, causing the three fragments in her possession to glow with green, orange, and purple light.

* * *

Immediately, Linka finds herself standing before a familiar, white-haired man, as he pounds away at what seem to be the four fragments. He sits in front of an old oak desk with worn sides. Small candles illuminate the room. _"What is this?"_

"Finally… with the power to control time and space itself, I'll be able to bring her back…" The man turns to face the young girl. "Liberty…"

Linka then turns around with that, only to come face-to-face with an oversized portrait of the young girl she had seen in the casket and on the battlefield. _"Is this the creation of the Macguffin?!"_

Then, the man stands up, and takes the four fragments in his hands, "I am King Lincoln Magna, and I will change her fate." And with that, they start to glow for a moment, forcing Linka to shut her eyes.

* * *

When she opens them again, Lincoln stands before her with the Component resting upon his head. He is much older now, with more defined muscles, just as you'd expect on a young man… though the dress he wears is now torn.

For a moment, the lone man and young girl stand before each other, with no one sure how to break the silence.

Linka tightens her grip, "Give me the fragment! I need it to-"

Lincoln scoffs and cuts him off, "Nah, William promised me a place in his perfect world if I got this trinket for him."

"What's going on?!" Lynn Sr. shouts, breaking the air in surprise, "And why is that boy in a dress?!"

Yet, no one answers him. Instead, Lincoln simply continues, "It looks like you have the rest, huh? Give me them, and I'll consider sparing your lives!"

Linka grits her teeth, "I'll never let you get the fragments!" She looks on with determined eyes, "I'm gonna use them rebuild your home and save mine!" Though, much to her dismay, Lincoln doesn't care.

"Oh please, I know what happened with my home dimension!" He throws his head back in laughter, "You think that just because you collected these stupid fragment things, I'm just gonna girl you the last one?!"

"Grr…" Linka growls, while Lincoln continues.

"That place wasn't my home! It was a glorified prison cell!" The fragment on Lincoln's head begins to glow, "And you guys were the worst brothers ever!" he points at the boys. "You decided that protecting me was so important that you didn't see any of the hints I was leaving for you! You suck!"

The boys stand by, awestruck by his words, though only a few of them are surprised.

"And if you're not gonna give me what I want, then I'll just take it from you!" And with that, he pounces, "Now give me what I want!"

Immediately, Linka counters, "Never!" Before she raises the Material Sword once more, "I will protect my family

And with that, they jump at each other.

A moment later, they clash, but due to the young man's older strength, he easily sends Linka flying back.

The young girl responds by teleporting away using the segment's power. But Linka easily counters with her own fragment, "Time pause!"

Immediately, Linka stops in time for a moment, _"Is this the power of the Filament?!"_ He thinks, _"I gotta-"_ But before she can finish the thought, Lincoln's fist hits her face, sending him flying up, into the ceiling, luckily, she is able to use the filament, opening a small portal into the next room.

"You're not getting away from me that easily Lincoln!" Lincoln shouts, before aiming his hand at the wall. The appendage glows with pink light for a moment, before the ceiling begins to degrade, before turning to dust, "Now give me those trinkets!"

Linka immediately counters by activating the filament, "Never!" She thinks for a moment, _"What universe was filled with water?! Oh right! Dimension DT-1i!"_ And immediately, the portal opens, sending a torrent of water at Lincoln.

Lincoln is immediately pounded by the blast, yet doesn't hesitate to shout, "Time pause!" instantly, the water stops, and he jumps up at the girl once more.

This time, however, Linka braces herself and thinks, _"Segment Shield!"_ Instantly, shie is freed from the pause and dodges the attack, "You can't beat me that easily Linka!"

"Oh? That'll just make this more interesting!" Lincoln dives at Linka, forcing the girl to block. Lincoln then bounces off the shield, grabs the girl and throws her at the family waiting under the hole.

Linka immediately uses the segment to stop herself, before teleporting back at Lincoln. Yet, Lincoln reacts quickly, grabbing the girl and throwing her back at them once more.

" _I can't let them get hurt!"_ Linka then counters her fall, by using the filament to open a small portal in her way, causing her to pop through another behind Lincoln.

"Oh? It looks like you're busy trying to protect those fools too huh?" Lincoln laughs, before aiming his hand at Linka once more, "Well then, when I finish here, I'll age them out of existence too!"

"No!" Linka shouts, before she tackles the boy, "I will not let you hurt my family!"

Lincoln immediately throws her off and fires a beam of light at the group, "Try to protect them!"

"Grr." Linka growls, before teleporting in the way and using the segment as a shield, causing the blast to disperse.

Before she has a chance to react, Lincoln uses the component to move him in front of Linka, immediately forcing his fist into her face once more. "You're pathetic. Those girls and boys are worthless!"

Linka immediately regains her bearing and blocks the next punch, though this time, Lincoln responds by punting the girl into the ceiling once more.

* * *

Lori immediately speaks up, "Shouldn't Lincoln be wiping the floor with that little brat? Doesn't he literally have three of those fragment things?"

Nyla nods as she watches the struggle going on above them, "Yeah. He from the looks of it, he has power over space, dimensions, and matter."

The commander then responds, "From the looks of it, Lincoln could easily beat her if he went all out. But that would put everyone else around her at risk. My hunters might be expendable to her, but not you. So she's trying to fight smart and controlled." He clenches his stab wound, "Linka on the other hand is fighting dumb and reckless. Forcing the artifact of time to work its powers brutishly with no care for control or collateral damage... Heck, from the looks of it, the only reason she's flying is because she's bending the laws of time to pause the laws of physics around her."

Lisa then speaks up, "Case in point. From what I can gather, Linka aged himself up to make himself even stronger and hurt Lincoln more... only to find his dress tearing and his feet killing him since his reckless usage of power didn't age the clothes."

Levi then continues, "From the looks of it, it's kind of like using a genie, but instead of clear, thought out wishes, you blurt out the vaguest one possible."

"More like she's swinging a claymore around. She's not giving Lincoln time to think..." Loki goes, while looking on in fear.

Lars looks away, "But as long as Lincolns trying not to kill us. He can't win…"

"We gotta help him somehow!" Lori shouts, her eyes falling upon Lyle, "Is there anything you can do?!"

Lyle shakes her head, "No… all we can do is watch as everything falls apart. None of the hunters can even intervene because things like this are too dangerous for us."

Nell then speaks up and motions to the class ones around them, "Why do you think none of the class ones here are even trying?"

"Ahh." Luke responds.

And with that, they turn to face the fight.

* * *

 _"I can't give up!"_ Linka desperately thinks as her counterpart forces her through the ceiling.

"You've failed them! You let their home die! You let all those people you helped die a horrible death!" Lincoln taunts as he stands over the young girl. "And now those pathetic excuses for a family are all that's left! If those were the only ones you could save, then clearly, you're the biggest failure I've ever seen!" Then, he punts her into the floor once more. He lands in front of the now disheveled girl and continues to taunt, "Why don't you give up?"

Yet, Linka doesn't surrender, choosing instead to stand up, "No…. I'm not the biggest failure ever." She stares at the older boy, "You are! You abandoned them! You chose to leave them, you chose to ruin my life, you're a spoiled brat, and no one deserves a sibling like you!"

"Is that so?" Lincoln laughs, "Then I guess I'll just age you out of existence!" He glares at the family and hunters nearby, "After that, they're next.

" _No… I can't… my family…"_ She frantically thinks, _"I failed them…"_ A soft tar begins to fill her eye. _"My family… They were always there with me… They taught me their skills."_ She glances at them, expressions of fear forming on their faces, _"But how can I save them?"_

" _You gotta keep your body loose!"_ A memory flashes across her mind, of the time she helped Lynn out with his hobby, _"Lynn's ballet! That's it!"_

"Goodbye Lincoln." Lincoln aims his hand, and fires.

Yet, Linka jumps up and dodges, causing the floor under her to age out of existence. _"All those moves he showed me actually came in handy!"_

"What the?!" Lincoln grits his teeth and jumps at her again. "Why won't you give up?!"

"Because I have a family to protect!" Another memory flashes across her mind, this one of Loki teaching her how to defend herself, _"Remember, if you wanna overpower someone who's stronger and faster than you, you gotta out think them! And try to use their size against them!"_

"Stop jumping like a jelly bean on a pogo stick!" Lincoln shouts in annoyance as he tries to follow the young girl in the crowd of class one hunters. "No matter, I'll just age them to dust as well!"

Instantly, the class ones begin to stampede in an attempt to get away.

Linka then hops up, causing another memory to cross her mind, _"Poo-poo!"_ or as Linka understands, " _Have fun even when things seem dangerous!"_ And with that, she twirls in the air for a moment, before swinging the Material Sword at Lincoln, causing him to flinch back in shock.

"Oh for crying out loud! Are you even taking this seriously?!" Lincoln shouts as he chases the white-haired girl, "I will age you even if it's the last thing I do!"

And with that, Lincoln pauses Linka in time once more, _"Crud!"_ Another memory cuts across her mind, " _You gotta be flexible when you're performing!"_ Linka mentally thanks Lane as she concentrates and breaks the pause, making sure to backflip out of the way as she does so, "I'm not giving up! I'll leave when I get the fragment back!"

Lincoln grits her teeth in frustration as he aims and begins firing a volley of time blasts at the girl.

" _Remember, if you wanna lure someone into a false sense of security, you gotta pretend like you're failing!"_ Lexx's reminder gives Linka an idea. Instantly, she blocks one of the blasts, causing a cloud of dirt to cover her. _"If you wanna ride Rise Falcon, you gotta be nimble and know when to dive!"_ And with Leif's words in mind she takes a dive.

"Haha! It's over!" Lincoln aims his next blast

" _You always gotta look the part! And a nice dress is the way to go!"_ Loni reminds, while Lars adds, _"Sometimes, things are like a story, make it interesting, and people will follow."_ Linka then lands, seemingly in pain, "Ugh." She groans.

"I win!" Lincoln declares, "Goodbye Lincoln."

 _"Remember Linka, sometimes there are solutions to your problems nearby! You just gotta look out!"_ Levi's words echo as she raises her shield once more. _"What can I use to…"_

" _And remember Linka, what goes around, comes around!"_ Luke's words give her the last idea she needs.

Instantly, she teleports away, in front of her family.

"Linka, what are you doing?!" Aeif shouts! Followed by the random stammering of the girls and boys.

Linka simply looks back, nods and declares, "Protecting you guys!"

More panic and confusion overtakes the family, before Linka shouts, "You can't beat me Linka! I'm too pretty and cool for that!"

Lincoln grits his teeth in anger, "Why you!"

"I'm not an anomaly Linka, I'm just a boy trying to get home!" Linka then secures the Segment to her back, and hits her chest, "Now come at me!"

"With pleasure!" Lincoln shouts, anger filling his voice as he charges up a ball of Light and firing.

"Linka responds by shouting, "Segment Reverse!" instantly, the Filament and Segment glow, redirecting the attack back at the young man.

Lincoln is sent flying back as a result, "Grr! No matter, you won't-" she starts, only for Linka to fly in and counter. "I won't let you harm my family!" And with that, she fires a blast, sending him flying through the ceiling once more, causing him to crash in front of the family. "It's over Linka, hand over the fragment!"

Lincoln defiantly stands up, "Never!" She points her free at the family, "You do anything and I'll age them out of existence!"

"Girl, I just redirected that, what makes you think it'll work this time?" Linka taunts.

"Age control." Lincoln mutters, and instantly the family panics of their skin begins to wrinkle up and their hair begins to grey.

Linka's eyes go wide in shock, "Stop it, age them back!"

"The fragments!" Lincoln shouts.

"Fine…" Linka's voice trails off as she releases her control over the three parts, causing them to fall to the floor with soft thuds, before she grabs her watch. _"I can't…"_ He looks at her slowly aging family, their expressions silently begging for her not to go through with her next actions. _"I must."_ With that though, she takes off the watch, causing the three fragments to retreat inside it. Then, she hands it over.

"Yes!" Linka releases her grip, immediately reversing the aging effect as she takes the device in her hands.

"William, I got the fragments, just as you've asked! Now give me what I want! You've made me wait for far too long!" Lincoln raises it up.

Suddenly, both Linka and Lincoln disappear.

* * *

"Whoa, where are we?" Lincoln goes as both he and Linka float in an endless void, filled with countless stars.

"It seems you've done it. As promised, I'll give you a place in my perfect world." He snaps his fingers, reverting Lincoln to her true gender- and a copy of her body- while Linka remains unchanged. "How about the Sahara desert?"

Lincoln's eyes go wide in shock, "What?! What are you talking about?!" the girl tries to step back as she feels William attempt to stare through her. "The only reason you even got those things was because of-"

"You? You're a lazy, selfish, dim witted, ego centric, narcissistic hypocrite who despite claiming to want freedom, continues to act like the world revolves around her. If I'd chosen you for this task in the first place, you most likely would have fallen before the first hurdle was within reach. Such an imperfect version of me has no place in my perfect universe. Now be a good girl and fade away with the infinite other inferior versions of Lincoln and myself!"

"What?! But-" She stammers, only for William to cut her off.

He adjusts his hat, "However, I am a man of my word, despite the fact that you are imperfect, I shall grant you a place in my perfect universe. Now, be gone with the evil!" And with that, Linka disappears from sight.

"What going on?!" Linka's eyes go wide in shock. "Why-"

"Lincoln! Lincoln!" William steps closer to the girl, cutting off her stammering, "You did it Lincoln! You achieved what I could not! Our sisters and I are so proud of you!"

"What are you talking about?!" Lincoln goes in shock as William approaches him. "What's going on?!

"Of course, let's recap shall we?" He turns away and looks out into the starts around them, "This is where I shall build my perfect world, free from all of the evil that has corrupted each and every corner of the known and unknown universe. A place of safety for the kids, the little you's and me's and girls."

"What ?" Lincoln tilts his head in confusion, "I think I follow…"

"Heh, so far so good." He raises the Matter Key Watch and commands, "Fragments that which contain the powers of infinity, come to me!" Then, he grabs and pulls the amulet from around his neck, "Segment of space, Component of Time, Filament of Dimensions and Material of Matter, reveal your true nature to me! Open, the element!" And with that, a yellow, red and green portal made up of three golden rings.

He then turns to the young girl, "Come with me Lincoln, and together we can build a better world! An utopia!"

Linka simply looks on, "You… you're trying to create a new world?!"

William smiles, "As usual my friend you don't disappoint. Which I sadly can't say for your counterpart." He throws his head back in laughter, "I'd be more surprised if you didn't see this coming!"

She looks at the portal in awe, "What do you want anyway?"

He motions towards the portal, "I want to create the perfect universe."

For a moment, Linka hesitates, "Define perfect."

"Without flaws, of course!" He chuckles, "Do I need to explain myself any further?"

Linka remains silent, as if expecting him to go on. And begrudgingly, the man continues.

"I want a world without pain, without fear, without want, without need! Where children could be free to do as they so please, in comfort, in safety." His voice fills with a fatherly hope.

Lincoln's eyes start to grow wide, "Children? What are you talking about?!"

"You'll see soon. After all, I could not have done anything without you." The man continues, "We're closer than you think.

"Have I just been gathering stuff for you, that you couldn't get yourself?" Suddenly, the realization hits him, "You're the evil me, aren't you Cryptos… The reason I'm like this…"

Cryptos gives Lincoln a warm, fatherly and familiar smile before taking off his top hat, allowing a familiar tuft of snow-white hair to spring up.

20-8-5 19-8-1-4-15-23-13-1-14 8-1-19 18-5-22-5-1-12-5-4 8-9-13-19-5-12-6.

 **A/N And that's a wrap! 30 weeks later and the twist I had been planning has finally come! It's funny, originally, I was planning on Linka being in a coma for the duration of the story, and now she's become one of the antagonists! Now it's a straight shot to the ending! I hope you guys enjoyed! Also, the songs sung were: Shallowside's "From The Bottom" and Thousand Foot Crutch's "War of Change".  
**

 **Anyways, I thank Exotos for editing, Insane Master Writer Studio for helping sort things out, and Wolvenstrom for ideas!**

 **Also, I apologize for not updating "Unwavering Bonds" this week, like I said I would. I was planning on writing and posting the chapter but, due to my grades I was forced to either fail Calculus and Chemistry, or not update for an extra 2 weeks. Good news, I got A's on both, so I'm probably not gonna fail out of college, bad news, finals week is coming next week. So I'll try to update "Finding A Loud" and this story, but if "Finding A Loud" isn't updated, well now you guys know why.**


	31. Legacy Of The Shadowman

**A/N Finals week blues are getting to me, but hey, I'm not giving up! Here's chapter 31!**

 **R &R  
**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: William finally reveals his motives! (Planned).**_

Story Thirty-One: Legacy Of The Shadowman

"What?!" Linka steps back in shock, "You- you're me?!"

William laughs in response, "Haha, I can't believe you didn't realize it!"

"H-how can this be?!" She stammers, before floating away from the man.

"Infinite universes equal infinite possibilities." William nonchalantly places his top hat back on, he motions towards the golden gate next to them, "But enough about that, come on, I have to show you what I have done so far!" He holds his arms behind his back, "I am so excited to finally have someone other than myself see what I have been working for!" And with that, he steps through and disappears.

" _I have to go home…"_ The young girl quickly scans her surroundings, _"and there's no way out of here except through that portal, isn't there…"_ The endless void around her glows with countless stars, and yet, none of it seems to lead home. And so, she sighs in defeat, _"This is a horrible idea… but it's all I've got."_ And with that, she steps into the golden portal.

Instantly, her body glows with silver light, as she seems to fly through the multiverse. She looks on in awe as the countless stars and planets pass her by, only to end with her landing on a pure white slab.

"Lincoln, you made it!" William greets before holding his stomach in laughter, "And here I thought you decided to travel the multiverse like the Quantum Leap guy!"

"Where are we Will?" Linka gets her balance on the silver slab while she takes in the scenery around her.

William motions towards a particular region in front the slab, with massive clouds of colorful stars and dust filling it. "You see those three clouds?"

"Uhh… yeah?" Linka turns towards her older counterpart.

"Those are the pillars of creation." He finishes, before turning around.

"Ok…" Her voice trails off in uncertainty. "Where are we though?"

"Huh, oh, of course!" that man facepalms, "Silly me, this is my home, the Trapezohedron Of Tricks!" He then snaps his fingers, causing the small panel to expand into a rather cozy home… one that is rather familiar to both of them.

"Huh… our home?" Linka goes as she looks around in awe.

William nods, "Yes, sometimes it's hard to beat nostalgia's call." He smiles and takes a seat on the couch. "So, I assume you have many questions, and I suppose now is a good of time as any to answer them, so please, get comfortable.

Linka nods, "Ok." Before taking a seat in the chair opposite William.

"Please, put your feet up. There is still time before I plan on continuing with what I have planned!" The man looks on in a nostalgic excitement, "Besides, I could just-"

"William… what are you working on?" Linka cuts him off, making sure to look into the man's eyes with a begging gaze.

"Heh, you must be on the more impatient spectrum of my counterparts." William laughs, before standing up, "Well since you're so eager to see what I'm doing, I'll show you!" He snaps his fingers, instantly teleporting the duo to a barren town square.

He throws his arms out for emphasis, "Welcome to Dimension 0i, this is the dimension from which I will build a perfect world!"

"William… what's this talk about a perfect world?" Linka turns to the man in concern, "And what did me-"

"Not another word! I still have more to show you!" He cheerfully snaps his fingers, "I know how fond you and I are of the old linen closet, so I have one right here for you!"

Instantly, the duo teleports once more, this time appearing in what appears to be an oversized version of the linen closet bedroom. Linka looks around for a moment. The room is at minimum double the size of what she is used to, with a new desk and wardrobe opposite her bed. There is massive case by the door packed with of awards with his name on them.

The man motions towards the trophy case, "Look, these are all yours. Here you don't have to feel inadequate compared to your sisters. You can be as smart or athletic or funny or musical as any of them. Your opinions will matter and they won't meddle with you. Isn't that everything you've ever wanted, to be talented just like them? To have them respect your privacy?"

"William… none of this is what I want." She responds with an endearing tone, "I just wanna go home. This 'perfect world' business really isn't why I helped you out."

The man sighs in response, "Of course, this whole time you were just trying to return to your home dimension…" he looks at her with determined eyes, "But there's no need for that now!" He grabs her shoulders; "This is your home now!"

"What are you talking about?!" Linka cries, "No it's not!"

He waves her off, "Of course it is. Fate has done something great and brought you to me!" He looks into her eyes with a begging gaze, "You are the first of our counterparts to reach this far!"

"William, what the heck are you talking about?!" Linka shouts, before she breaks free of the man's grip.

"Ugh." He groans, before sighing in defeat, "I suppose I need to explain more." He turns around and opens a small portal, "Come along now, I must show you something." And he steps through the green gate.

Linka hesitates for a moment, _"What's going on here? What's William doing, and why is he trying to convince me to stay?!"Yet, she eventually decides to follow._

* * *

Immediately, they stand on a familiar battlefield, the defeated corpses of countless soldiers lay scattered around, as if waiting for someone to bury them.

"Where are we?" Linka asks as she turns to the white-haired man next to her.

"This was once my home. Dimension 379-X." He holds his fist close to his chest.

Linka looks around for moment, as if trying desperately to take the scene in, _"Why does this seem so… familiar?"_

"Lincoln… I must show you more." The man continues, before pulling out the Matter Key- the device no longer taking the form of a watch rather, as a black sphere.

"William! I've seen the multiverse countless times; I don't need-" Linka desperately shouts. And yet, her pleas fall on deaf ears.

The black sphere releases a small ring with two purple crystals at each end, "You have not utilized the Component, correct?"

"What are you doing?!" Linka shouts as he hands the device to her.

He takes a knee in front of her, "I want to show you what I've been through. Why I dream the way I do." He stands up and looks out into the barren wasteland, "The Component Of Time will allow you to see what occurred millennia ago."

" _And he's not listening to me."_ Linka sighs in defeat, "Fine, I'll see what you have to say." She takes the device in her hands, "So uhh… how do I use this thing?"

"You've been managing without me, I think you already know how to use it." He chuckles, before taking a seat upon the cold dirt below.

"Ok…" Linka takes a deep breath. _"Why do I have such a bad idea about this?"_ She places the Component upon her head with that, and concentrates. It takes a moment, but eventually the silver ring and crystals glow with blue light.

Immediately, she shuts her eyes, only to open them once more.

" _Where am I?"_ She thinks as she darts her head around.

"This is wrong!" A masculine voice shouts, causing Linka to turn to the source.

Immediately, her eyes fall upon the man from her previous vision, only this time he seems more disheveled. Before him, stand two people, one- a young man- glowing with green light, while the other- a young woman- glows with red light.

" _What's going on?"_ She steps closer to watch.

"This is my life's work!" The man shouts, "I want to bring back my sister!"

The young woman steps forward, "We're sorry, but as the guardians of order and chaos, we cannot allow you to continue your attempts to modify dimensional stability."

The young man then follows the young woman's footsteps, "We are forced to destroy these in order to save everything." He places a hand on the kneeling man's shoulder, "We're sorry."

Immediately, the man throws his arm off, "No! I won't let you!" He grabs a small, blue object off his desk, "This Macguffin is indestructible! You'll never be able to destroy it!" He holds the blue fragment in his hand for a moment, before he glows with light blue energy. "Over my dead body!"

"Now don't do anything rash." The young girl takes the pink sweater's hood off and looks the man in his eyes as she speaks, "Please, we're just trying to do our jobs."

"No, you're trying to stop me from saving my sister!" The man the shouts, "Polytrope, seal them away!" And with that, the room is engulfed by pure blue light, forcing Linka to shut her eyes.

When she opens them again, she finds herself standing in the battlefield once more. Though now she stands before the same white-haired man, cradling the bloody corpse of what can be assumed to be his sister, _"What's going on?"_ And with that, the component stops glowing, causing the battlefield to fade away.

"So, do you understand?" William asks as he kneels down in front of the girl.

Linka shakes her head, "No, I don't."

"In my time, I was King Magnus, the ruler of my kingdom." He looks away as soft tears begin to fill his eyes, "And yet, even I couldn't save my sister… Sambell…"

"Ok…" Linka stands up, "I think I understand…" She looks at the man in front of her, "So what's your plan then?"

The man turns to her, "I plan on integrating all worlds, so that all may enjoy what a perfect reality can bring."

Linka remains silent for a moment, as if trying to understand what the man had just said to her, and yet, even she can't help but stammer, "O-ok… so what's going to happen to my home?"

William snaps his fingers, returning them to the oversized linen closest, "This is your home now!" He holds his arms out, as if trying to exaggerate the size of the room.

"No it's not!" Linka immediately counters, "My home is my sisters and brothers. You know, the people I've been trying to get home to for the past six months, and the reason I did anything for you!"

The man waves her off, "You don't need them anymore!" He walks over and opens the door, revealing twenty smiling siblings standing by, "Here, you have all twenty of them, and they're all here to do your bidding!" He looks the young girl in the eyes, "Isn't this what you wanted?"

Yet, Linka doesn't budge, "No, I just wanted to go home!"

"This is your home now!" He stands against the girl, "I made this part of my perfect world just for you!"

"But, this isn't my home!" Linka desperately cries.

"Yes it is!" He shouts, "You're the first of our counterparts to even get this far, and I am not letting you leave to be corrupted by the multiverse I plan to integrate!"

"…Integrate?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

William nods, "Yes. I plan on using the power you gave me to combine all universes into one, so that I may create the perfect world." His voice fills with a desperate hope, "And you're the one person I trust to stay here, with me!"

After that line, silence overtakes the duo.

"So how does this work? You trick me into gathering the fragments for you, and now you're gonna eat or absorb me? You know, to integrate me into this supposedly perfect world?"

William shakes his head, "Not at all… You still don't understand do you?"

Linka shakes her head, "I think I do… but why are you doing it?"

The man pulls a top hat out of nowhere and places it over the white tuff of hair, "The universe is a messy place, and so I plan on cleansing it of its impurities. This will allow me to create the perfect universe!"

"But…" Linka's voice trails off for a moment, before she clenches her fists, "That's impossible!"

"What? Of course it's possible!" He holds up the black sphere, "With powers over time, space and matter, I will be able to do anything I so choose!"

"If I've learned anything in the past six months… it's that true perfection is impossible to achieve." Linka speaks with a soft, yet determined voice, _"I have to convince him to stop. I can't let him destroy everything!"_

Immediately, the man snaps to her, "What are you talking about? Of course-"

Yet, Linka doesn't hold back, "Perfection means you're done. Finished. You don't need to do anymore. You've achieved the ultimate achievements in everything." She looks him in the eyes, "No matter what you do, there is no reason to do anything!"

William forces his way back, "No war. No conflict. No death. No ugliness. No failure, no hunger or starvation or sickness..."

"No change. No fun. No reason to do anything but sit and stare at a wall forever because everything's already been done. What's the point in competition if everybody knows they'll all win? What's the point in working if nobody needs money for food or shelter? What's the point in challenging yourself if you know your always going to be right one-hundred percent of the time?" Linka raises her arms, as if preparing to fight the man.

William falls silent.

"A perfect world is a boring one, and one that none of us could live in. You'd have to turn everyone into unthinking zombies to make them comply with that world. Then what would you do? You'd be alone in a universe with no one but yourself and nothing to do but wait until you decide to start everything over. Only to keep making the exact same mistake because you keep using the same flawed logic!" Linka crosses her arms.

"I don't care! I lost everything because of the ugliness and imperfections of the multiverse. You've seen them too! The pain, the fear, the regret and hate! You've been to realities where you were used and no doubt abused! You cannot say that the multiverse is perfect the way it is!" William points at the boy-turned-girl. "I'm sure the siblings you hold so dear can agree with that statement!"

Linka doesn't break, "Do you think I'm stupid? Of course I know it's not perfect! But that's the **point** of the multiverse! Everything should and never should! Every is, was and will be! Every choice and decision explored without crowding them all into one little reality... infinite possibilities."

She holds her hand close to his chest, "I've seen universes where I'm sleeping with my brothers. One's where I'm married to my sisters. Entire systems where they're sleeping or married to each other in whatever combination reality hasn't used or has abused! I've seen nightmare worlds that would drive you insane filled with horrors man was never meant to see: worlds where I'm dying, worlds were everybody but me is dying. Depression. Suicide. Genocide. Loneliness. Sick, disgusting crud so horrible that they'd have to invent a whole new rating that no one under the age of 'blind, deaf or dead' would be allowed to see!"

Then, she lets out a breath, "But they can't just not exist. They need to exist so that their can be universes where all the horrors they contain don't."

William stands by in shock, "Why is that? You've seen the pain the universe can bring, and yet you just accept it? Surely you too want a perfect world! A place where you can be who you are, without fear that someone will come in and end your life prematurely!"

Linka looks on in determination. "Because I am already who I am. And yeah that's a scary thought. But I don't think a world were you know everything that will happen to you. What's the point in being alive if you can't live?" She stares the man in the eye, "For all the grief she's given me, Linka was right about something. Being cooped up like a prisoner is the worst. But my brothers can agree that going out and changing things makes everything worthwhile."

She looks on hopefully, "I love my life the way it is. The bad stuff makes the good stuff better. And the good stuff makes the bad stuff not so bad. When I went to 11B I went through bad stuff, and that made me realize how much I appreciate my sisters. Getting stuck in 63i'\was a nightmare, but if I hadn't, I wouldn't have met the guys or Ron or Claudia or Nyla and everyone else. You take the good with the bad. That's what makes life worth living."

"No!" William snaps, "You're wrong! Your life has been horrible since the shift!"

"No it hasn't! You and Linka, you only want the good parts of life. But really if I had to compare it to something, you're like those idiots who win the lottery and think they don't have to worry about anything ever again! But they get bored. Their lives lose meaning when they don't have to do anything to get what they want. They end up wasting it trying to make themselves happy but only end up losing everything and going back to where they started."

William cuts in to counter, "No, I haven't won, this is a win for all people, for all universes!" the room around them disintegrates, returning the duo to the pillars of creation. "I plan on building a truly perfect world here!" He points at the three massive pillars with thousands of stars glowing in them, "And it will be as grand as the start of the multiverse!"

"You could have all the power in the world, in the universe, in the **multiverse**. You could do anything you wish just by wishing it and make whatever world you desire… but it won't change anything. You'll get bored. You'll waste your power trying to make your perfect world even more perfect trying to make yourself happy, and you'll only end up losing everything and ending up back where you started. The only difference is you'll try it again and you'll fail again. Infinite times you'll try and infinite times you, will, fail."

William shakes his head, "Lies! None of it is true! You're wrong!" He points at her, "You're just trying to stop me! You must be an anomaly as well!"

"Ugh." Linka groans, "This is just like when I was arguing with Linka. You're not giving me an actual argument! You might as well be sticking your fingers in your ears and singing a song that never ends!"

And for a moment, William remains silent, allowing the girl's words to settle in his mind. And yet, he clenches his fists, "Your points are clear. I know that evil will stand by. And yet, is it wrong to push supposed evolution faster? I wish to bring back those who have died by unclean hands, you and I, our counterparts, our sisters!" He goes, his voice filling with hope. "I want to create a place of safety for the children. For you and me and whatever pure counterparts exist!"

Linka crosses her arms, "And then what? Keep them alive forever? Force them to live in a dull world were they don't even have paint drying to keep them entertained? What would Lisa do in a world where there's nothing left to learn? Or Lynn if she was guaranteed to always win? Or Luan if she doesn't have to do anything to make people laugh?"

"Then-then I'll make there be things left for her to learn! I'll make it so Lynn can be challenged!" William's holds his arms up, as if ready to fight.

"A world where there are things left to learn and you have to struggle to succeed? How's that perfect?" Linka crosses her arms.

William falls silent once more. "You really are me..."

The realization slowly dawns the girl, as the dots seem to fit together all too well, _"The fragments… those visions I saw… those were him, weren't they? He's been trying for millennia, and I'm the first to get the far with him."_ Her expression softens as she places a soft hand on his cheek, "I've seen what happened to you. I know your pain." she looks into his eyes, "Each time I came into contact with a fragment, it told me your story."

"You don't know what it's like to lose a twin sister in battle. A battle you could've prevented." He mutters.

Linka shakes his head, "No I don't. But I know what it's like to lose ten. If you didn't turn up and help me, I was scared I'd never see my sisters ever again… and even now I have to choose between giving up one family and losing another."

"That's not the same thing!" He shouts in desperation.

"Of course it's not. But I know the pain you must feel. You only wanted to bring her back, and in the end those guardians interfered! If it wasn't for you, I would never be this close to seeing my family again." Linka's voice gains a soft understanding to it.

"You-you..." William stammers.

"For the past few months, you haven't done anything I would outright call evil, but you haven't done anything in general. You manipulated me, but you didn't lie. You promised me a way home, and the Macguffin offers that. It can fix the anomalies and rebuild everything!" Linka's voice fills with hope, "You don't have to end up like Linka. You can help me save everyone!"

William remains silent for a moment, "I'm sorry Lincoln, but I am not giving up on my dream." He turns around with that, "I'm sorry… but I have made my choice. I will integrate the dimensions and create the perfect world… no matter how long it takes" With a soft, tear-filled eye, he glances back at the girl, "And if you will not come with me then... Please, enjoy what little time you have left."

"William…" The girl's voice trails off as a portal opens behind her.

"I'm sorry." He mutters, before the portal pulls Linka in.

 _ **A few moments later...**_

"Linka!" A voice cries out, immediately stirring the young girl from her slumber.

Slowly, she sits up and rubs her head, before she opens her eyes, "Ugh what happened?"

"You're all right!" Lars throws his arms around his sister, "We were so worried about you!"

"What the?" Her voice trails off, before she looks passed the boy, only to come face-to-face with two sets of the massive Loud Family, "Uhh guys, what's going on?"

The two groups of siblings remain silent for a moment, before Nyla steps forward, holding her Holo-Gear up, "You tell us."

Linka holds onto Lars tightly as Nyla taps away, before a rendering of the Anomaly Hunter HQ appears, "After you gave that fragment thing to Linka, you disappeared, and we ended up back here."

"And where's here?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

"Dimension C-137." Alex crosses his arms, before Aeif continues, "But we don't know why we got sent here."

Nell then adds on, "And we also have no idea why multiverse stability has been offset."

"So… I have a lot of explaining to do, don't I?" Linka flatly asks, eliciting nods from both the boys and the girls.

"But first, we need to make sure it's you." Loki then steps forward, with Lori coming at his side.

Linka breaks the hug with Lars and stands up. For a moment, she remains silent, as she simply takes in the scene. Surprisingly enough, all twenty Loud Siblings are quiet, with the set of dimension 63 parents silent while standing behind the children.

"So… how are we gonna do this?" Linka tilts her head in curiosity.

Lori and Loki look at each with fierce expressions, before nodding and turning back to the girl.

"What was the job dad asked you to get six months ago?" Loki nonchalantly asks, though a commanding air still overtakes him.

Linka thinks for a moment, "Dad asked me to deliver papers, and I ended up getting chased by Lynn and Leif." A soft, nostalgic air overtakes her.

"Well, she's got my side." Loki goes, before nudging Lori, "How about you?"\

"Hmm." Lori hums, "How about… uhh…"

"Lori, how about the time I covered for you at your job so you could go to the dance with Bobby?" Linka cuts her off.

The two eldest siblings look at each other, before turning back to the girl, "It really is you!"

Immediately, the girls rush to the girl, while the boys remain behind, each of them with mixed expressions filling their faces.

"You're all right!" Lori throws her arms around the girl, "After so long, you're finally back home!"

"Heh, yeah, I'm glad to be back to." Linka edges into the hug just a bit more, before closing her eyes, allowing her sisters' heat to overtake her, _"I can't believe I'm finally home…"_ And yet, even she can't hold onto the moment for too long.

"Uhh Linka…" Loni speaks up, "Like… what's going on?"

" _Well… it was fun while it lasted huh?"_ Linka sighs, before breaking the girls' embrace, "I guess it's time I explained myself huh?"

Luna nods, "Yeah bro… or sis, I think we all deserve to know what happened." While Luke simply adds, "Linka…"

Lana then adds, "Yeah Linc, why'd you leave?!"

"I'll explain everything." Lincoln sighs in defeat, "I promise…"

"Well hello-" Rita and Lynn Sr. of dimension C-137 walk in with that.

"Uhh girls, who are these people?" the Rita asks, while the Lynn Sr. adds, "And why do they look like us?"

Lori rubs the back of her head, "Mom, dad, how do we put this?"

"Like, they're us from another dimension!" Leni shouts, flaring her arms up as she does so.

"What?!" Rita shouts, before turning to Lisa, "Didn't we tell you to stop trying to meddle in trans-dimensional business?!"

Lisa holds her arms up defensively, "Of course, but I did it for a good reason."

Lynn Sr. of dimension C-137 then crosses his arms, "You better." Before he points at Linka, "And girls, where's your brother?!"

"I'm their brother." Linka flatly answers.

"How can that be?" Rita crosses her arms as well, "Last we checked, our son wasn't a girl… I think."

"Don't worry I'll explain everything." Linka waves her off, before turning to the massive group, "Everyone, take a seat, this is a long story."

And so, everyone complies. Given the fact that twenty-nine people are now packed into a single room only designed for eleven, it's a bit cramped.

With all eyes on her, Linka sighs, "Six months ago, I said that I wished that I had ten brothers…" She looks at Lisa with a concerned expression. "So Lisa decided to make a watch capable of travelling dimensions."

Every proceeds to glare at Lisa, though Linka continues, "It's not her fault guys, it's mine." She mentally kicks herself, "She gave me the chance to see life on the other side, and I didn't hesitate to go along with it."

Everyone turns back to the girl. While the girl looks at the boys, "I went to a dimension in which mom had eleven boys and no girls… And at first, I loved it there!" She flares her arms up in exaggeration, "Heh… I actually considered staying there for the rest of my life…" Though even she can't help but think, _"I probably would've ended up like Linka if I did."_

"But after a day, I realized that those guys well…" she rubs her arms, "Weren't the best bro's to have. So I decided to go home."

"And what complicated that endeavor?" Lisa pulls out a small computer and begins typing, "All of the calculations I ran that everything should've been fine."

"William Cryptos happened." She responds, with slight annoyance filling her voice. "When I was trying to go home, he stopped and threw me into dimension sixty-three." She motions towards the boys, "Remember the night I woke up and fainted?"

Loki nods, "Barely."

"That was when I came." She finishes, "After that, William came and told me that there was an evil Lincoln bent on destroying the multiverse… For some reason." She facepalms, _"Dangit I should've seen it coming."_

"Don't beat yourself up over it… continue." Nyla commands, while she begins to type commands into her Holo-Gear.

"After that, I did my best to follow his orders and find the fragments to a device that could save everyone… the Macguffin." She looks away, "In the meantime I did my best to hide the fact that I wasn't really Linka… by acting like myself." She chuckles, "I guess I set off some alarms huh?"

"And when were you planning on telling us this?" Lynn Sr. of D63 turns towards the girl, while holding onto his wife, the woman's cries slowly turning into quiet sobs.

For a moment, she hesitates, before sighing, "I never planned to, really. I was just trying to make sure that you guys would end up better off than when I came…"

A moment of silence overtakes the room with that.

"Look…" Linka looks at the boys once more. "I'm sorry I deceived you all… and I would've told you guys sooner, but I really got to know you guys and I just couldn't leave you and your world…"

Lane takes Mr. Coconuts from Luan and holds him up, "So were just posing as our sister this whole time?"

Linka nods, "Yeah…"

"And what about that stuff about you growing up?" Leif holds his fists tightly at his sides, "About us not having to protect you anymore?!"

Lexx doesn't even allow Linka to answer his twin's question, before he cuts in, "What about dressing up in my play? Why'd you stand up for me?!"

Linka looks to the brothers that she had told for guidance, though even they remain silent, as if they too try to bury the idea.

Levi too remains silent, choosing instead to look at his counterpart.

"Guys… I'm sorry but…" She looks away.

"But what?" Rita of D63 finally speaks up, "Where's my daughter?"

" _Well… I guess I can't hide what happened."_ Linka sighs once more, before looking at the group, "In order to save our worlds and bring me home, William told me that I had to collect fragments of the Macguffin. So after I got them, Linka took them from me and gave them over."

"Get to the point." Lynn Sr. of D63 mutters, "I want to know where our daughter is!"

"She's in William's perfect world." Linka finally answers, before motioning at the map of the Multiverse Nyla has out. "After William got the fragment, he cursed her out and sent her to die in the Sahara Desert."

"You- you…" Lynn Sr. stands up and stares at the girl, "You… you bitch!" then, he grabs at the girl, "You dirty daughter stealing bitch!"

Yet, Loki tackles his father away, "Dad, calm down!"

"Et tu Loki?" the man stands up and stares at his eldest son.

Loki nods, "We went over this back at the Citadel. Lincoln has been a better sister than Linka ever was!"

"I don't believe that!" the man shouts, "All I've heard is you guys repeat that your sister was a horrible person to everyone and that she deserved whatever she got." He growls at his son, "I'm giving you till the count of three to back down son, and let me save my daughter, your sister!"

Loki doesn't back down, choosing instead to stand his ground in front of the girl.

"Now Loki, listen to your father!" Rita sadly goes, "Please."

"Mom…" Loki softens for a moment, before turning and looking her in the eyes, "What has Linka ever done with you? All she's done is complain about having to make food with you! She never wanted to spend time or do anything to bond!"

"Loki…" she whispers.

"Son, listen to your mother." The man continues… only for Lars to appear at Loki's side.

"Dad, no. Lincoln's our sister, and we won't let you hurt him." He flatly goes.

"Lars…" Linka whispers, "Thanks."

"Yeah, and from the sound of it, she's been a better sister than Linka was as our brother!" Lola cuts in, while the girls come to Loki's aid.

Lori continues, "She literally made us work as her servants while her body healed!" While she raises her phone, as if preparing to hit someone with it.

"She made me unclog the toilet after she dropped a big one!" Lana complains, while holding up a broken plunger, "She even broke my favorite tool!"

"She said my jokes were unfunny and tried to get me to throw away Mr. Coconuts!" Luan adds on, while Leni nods too, "She ruined my dresses!"

"Having Linka as our brother was the worst ever!" Luna crosses her arms as well.

"Now girls, I think you should calm down." Lynn Sr. of D137 motions for his daughters to relax, "I mean, what is this talk about your brother not really being your brother?"

Linka steps forward and answers, "Mom, dad, I'm Lincoln."

"What are you talking about sweetie?" Rita of D137 tilts her head in confusion.

"Like I said, I ended up swapping places with Linka." She repeats, before rubbing her head, "I'm sorry I lied to all of you guys."

A moment of silence passes, before Lynn Sr. of D63 takes a deep breath to calm down.

"Guys?" Linka looks at Lane, then Loni, then Leif and Lexx.

"Poo-poo!" Leon shouts, before grabbing at the girl, "Link-a!"

Lane holds up the male doll and speaks through him, "Lincoln… was what you said… you know about the 'incident' true?"

Leif then adds, "And what about what you said about having to protect you?"

The male Lynn Jr. then continues, "And what about our secrets?!"

Linka doesn't hesitate to respond, "It was all true." She slowly walks over and hugs the trio, "You three are as much my brothers as those girls are my sisters."

And with that, Lane, Lynn and Leif return the hug.

A moment of silence passes, before Linka breaks the embrace and motions for everyone to sit down once more.

"So Linky… why'd you leave?" Lana finally asks, "We love you!"

Linka looks away, "Because I just felt… lonely I guess." The group remains silent, "I was the only boy out of ten girls… and I just wanted some brotherly affection I guess…" She looks to the boys, "Well I guess I got that."

"Well what about our home?" Lynn Sr. goes, crossing his arms in annoyance. "What happened to it?"

"It's gone… I was too late in collecting the fragments…" She sadly goes, much to the boy's dismay. "I wanted to enjoy the party before I finally left you guys…"

"You- why?!" Immediately, the young girl is overrun but a group of questions.

"I wanted to make sure you had at least one more good time with me before I left!" She finally shouts, "William wasn't helpful at all… but meeting you all… helped me find the fragments." Suddenly, the realization hits her, "That's right… I was doing the right thing all along. Going after the fragments from the second I was told about them would have no doubt ended in failure."

She looks at the massive families in hope, "I managed to get the first fragment because of Lars and Luke. Got the second with the help of my friends and Ron. Found the third because of Levi, and earned it with the help of Leif. And if chandler hadn't needed to win Ron back from her, Lyle might have gotten away with the final fragment with them all being none the wiser." She then focuses on the boys, "I'm sorry I let your word die… but if I didn't waste time, I probably wouldn't even have gotten this far."

Silence overtakes them once more, though a more understanding air follows it.

"So what's next?" Levi finally asks. "Look, I know you aren't my real sister…." He stands up and hugs the girl, "But you're the best I ever had."

"Are you sure you're my male counterpart?" Lisa stands up and walks to his side, "You seem to have more… emotion than I had expected."

Linka smiles, "Yeah Lisa, he's your counterpart."

Immediately, the two groups begin to talk amongst themselves, filling the living room with noise.

"Guys, William plans to integrate all universe to create his perfect world." Linka finally declares, "We have to stop him before it's too late."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Lynn Sr. of D63 asks. "From the sound of it, he's nigh unstoppable and coned you into doing his bidding."

"I don't know." Linka responds, "He may have the Macguffin." She looks at the siblings, "But with you guys, "I'm sure we do something."

"Like, how about we go there and ask him to fix everything?" Loni suggests, while Leni responds, "Like, that sounds like a great idea!"

"If you want to get turned into mush." Lisa puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head.

"Well got a better idea Lisa?" Linka nonchalantly asks, causing Lisa to shake her head in disappointment.

"Then it's settled, we're fighting Cryptos." Linka goes, "Now who's with me?!"

No one steps forward.

"Come on guys, this is to save everything!" Linka waves her arms in annoyance.

"We know, but…" Loki looks away.

"Then would you rather get turned into whatever happens when a universe is destroyed?"

The siblings and parents look at each other and nod.

"Fine, we're with you twerp." Lori affectionately goes, "So what's the plan?"

"Levi, Lisa, turn on the dimensional bridge, we're going to the Trapezohedron Of Tricks!"

And with that, everyone rushes upstairs.

15-4-25-19-19-5-21-19 8-1-19 18-5-20-21-18-14-5-4 8-15-13-5, 2-21-20 20-8-5-18-5 9-19 19-20-9-12-12 15-14-5 6-9-14-1-12 20-18-9-1-12 18-5-13-1-9-14-9-14-7: 18-5-3-5-9-22-9-14-7 20-8-5 21-12-20-9-13-1-20-5 2-15-15-14

 **A/N It looks like final climax to this story is coming up soon! I hope you guys enjoyed! As always, I thank Exotos and insane Master Writer Studio for their help!**


	32. Return To The Different Dimension

**A/N The power of determination is great! Despite writer's block and summer's beginning, I'm not gonna give up! I hope you guys enjoy the next chapter! And in other news, I've passed my finals! Now I only have 2 classes a week to deal with! And thanks for over 300 reviews!**

 **R &R**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Everyone prepares to challenge William.**_

Story Thirty-Two: Return To The Different Dimension

"So how's this gonna work?" Linka stands behind the console as her brainy siblings type away.

"Simple Lincoln." Lisa responds, as random models of the dimensional balance begin to appear on screen, "This dimension bridge was designed to allow travel between dimensions so long as there is a proper connection point."

Loki crosses his arms, "Tell us something we don't know."

Levi immediately turns around, "It does this by launching the traveller through a stable wormhole that connects to the destination. Two portals are required for a round trip."

"So if we wanna go to wherever this William guy is, we just need to find out where he is and hop through the portal?" Lori asks, waving her hand as she does so.

"Affirmative." Lisa responds.

"So this bridge can take us to the Trapezohedron Of Tricks?!" Linka shouts in excitement, while flaring her arms up for emphasis.

Levi nod, "Yes… however…" He turns back to the console, "It'll be a one-way trip. There's no getting around it. That is, unless there is a way we can open a return portal."

Silence overtakes the room with that.

Though, Lisa adjusts her glasses and breaks the silence, "As it stands, we are sure we will be able to recalibrate it. But first we'll have to find the coordinates of this 'Trapezohedron of Tricks'." She turns towards a nearby computer and begins to type, "Lincoln, were there any identifying features that could narrow down our search area?"

Linka rubs her chin and looks up in thought for a moment, before snapping her fingers, "Yeah. Will mentioned that he was planning on creating his perfect world by 'The Pillars Of Creation'." She looks at her genius brother and sister, "Is that enough?"

Levi nods, "Most likely yes." He turns to his female counterpart, "Lisa, start scanning the area around quadrant 89B- The Eagle Nebula. From my studies of dimensional connections and distortions, there should be a detectable amount of dimensional waves forming there."

"How much of this stuff did you study?" Lisa turns towards her counterpart, "I assume that it was just enough to create the bridge, am I correct?"

"I studied an oversized textbook." Levi points back at Linka, "My sister brought it in a few days after she arrived in my dimension."

"I see, and would it have any relevant uses for our current situation?" Lisa remains focused on the console in front of her.

Levi thinks for a moment, while he types away, "Yes, inside contained some basic laws of inter-dimensional control and travel."

Lisa rubs her chin, "Then we may need it. I highly doubt either of us have created an one-way gate before."

"That's gonna be hard." Lars suddenly appears at their side, spooking the science-y duo.

"G'ahh!" The scientists shout, before Linka walks over and asks, "Why's that Lars?"

"Didn't you leave it back in our dimension?" He asks, with a monotone voice, "You know, the one that is currently overrun with anomalies?"

" _Dangit…"_ Linka facepalms, "You're right."

"So like, why don't we just go back home?" Loni asks with a shrug.

"Like, yeah!" Leni adds, "When I can't find something, I just look where I think I was and that's where it is!"

"That'll be easier said than done you two." Luke shakes his head, "Remember, we don't know what a destroyed universe even looks like, let alone if they're safe to go to!"

Lisa and Levi shake their heads in unison, "Well if we're going to prevent more universes from being destroyed by William's actions, then we'll need that book, as well as some tools."

"Then it's settled." Loki speaks with a commanding voice. "Levi, does the dimensional bridge still work?"

Levi nods, "Yes, with it you can return to our home dimension safely. However, we cannot guarantee that your destination is as safe as the route."

"Understood." Loki turns to his brothers, "Boys, I'm planning on going back home to get some things we may need. Who else is willing to go with me?"

The boys talk amongst themselves for a moment, before the male Lynn responds, "We're with ya bro!"

"Good." Loki turns to Linka, "What about you Lincoln?"

"I'm not sure…" She holds her arm, "I think I'll come since we need the book… and maybe the goggles could come in handy."

"Well it's settled then, we leave immediately." Loki then turns back to the scientists, "Fire up the bridge, we're moving out."

"Heh, from the sound of it, you guys are getting ready to build the dimensional bridge to William's lair." That's when Nyla walks in followed by the three other ex-hunters and Lyle.

"Hey guys." Linka turns to face the five, before steeling her gaze and pointing at the oldest woman among them, "And what's she doing here?"

Lyle keeps her stern expression, "I'm just here to help these hunters make a delivery." She then raises her Holo-Gear and taps the spherical screen.

Nell raises her arm and smiles, "We like went back to base and asked Commander Dullon if we can give you guys some gear so you're not fighting an inter-dimensional god empty handed." She begins to tap her device as well.

"And seeing as all of the other hunters are busy trying to stall dimensional collapse from the sudden influx of anomalies, he authorized us to 'raid' the armory." Aeif pulls out her Holo-Gear as well. "And we were able to pick up some stuff you may be able to use

"Like what?" Linka raises an eyebrow in curiosity.

Nyla chuckles, "Oh nothing… only Holo-Gear of your own."

The white-haired girl's eyes go wide in shock, "What?! Really?!"

Lyle nods, "Yeah. We were authorized to make you temporary Anomaly Hunters, until the threat of William Cryptos is averted. We have also been authorized to help you in any way necessary to get you to where he is."

"Uhh Lincoln, what's she talking about?" Lori puts her hands on her hips.

"I'll explain it later, but for now, our lives are gonna be way easier." Linka flares her arms in excitement, "Holo-Gears allow the user to fight anomalies and seal them away!"

"Heh, they do way more than that." Nyla responds with a smile, "Though, we don't have time to explain.

Alex continues for his partners, "Though, in cases like these, we aren't allowed to give standard-issue ones. So you guys will use the prototypes command has been working on."

Nyla then taps the screen of her gear, causing the rest of the hunter's gear to assemble four devices each. The new Holo-Gear is smaller than what the hunters have. With a small, flat, circular touchpad and a rectangular body coming out the side. "They're not too flashy, but they turn on faster and have copy feature."

"With these, you'll be able to safely fight any anomaly that comes your way." Lyle declares, before grabbing the devices in her hands and handing them over to the waiting siblings.

"What's the copy feature?" the female Lynn asks.

"Just put it next to any piece of technology and this device will scan and copy its function, allowing more versatility in their use." Nell answers, "You guys are so lucky! I've always wanted to test out a prototype model!"

"Try not to break these, command really wants to know how these things work out." Alex goes.

Immediately, everyone secures a Holo-Gear to their wrist, and boots them up.

"So we can go between dimensions now?" Linka asks.

Nyla shakes her head, "Command doesn't like the idea of random strangers being able to go between dimensions at will. That's why the holo-gear you took from Trevor worked when you put his card in, but it never gave you to option to travel between dimensions."

"Oh…" Linka rubs the back of her head, "Well that explained that."

"Hmm…" Levi hums as he connects his new gear to the console, while Lisa does the same, "I think we'll be able to use these new devices to aid in the calibration of the bridge."

Quickly, he types in several commands, while the rest of the two families and hunters watch him in curiosity.

"Uhh, what are you doing?" Luna nonchalantly asks.

"I'm… a-ha!" Levi turns back to them, "This Holo-gear was exactly what I needed! With this we'll be able to pinpoint exactly where we need to go to get to the Trapezohedron!"

"That's great!" Linka claps her hands together in excitement, "So how long do you think it'll take you two to finish calibrating it?"

Lisa turns around, "It should take a few hours at best. In the meantime, why don't you male counterparts do what you said you were just about to do?"

Loki nods, "Ok then. Boys, let's get a move on!"

"You got it bro!" Luke motions for the other boys to follow, and they comply.

"Poo-poo!" Leon flails his arms before he points at his only sister, "Link-a!"

The girl walks over and rubs the baby's head, "Don't worry Leon, I'm coming with you guys."

"Actually." A soft, masculine voice goes, causing the children to turn to the source.

"Hey dad." Loki stands up at attention, "Is there anything we can help you with?"

The man shakes his head, "I'm not your father." He motions towards his clothes, "Green shirt, remember?"

Loki nods, "Yes sir."

The man then turns to the white-haired girl, "Lincoln, your mother and I have a lot of questions for you, and we're not letting you go anywhere until you answer them, got it?"

"Ok…" Linka's voice trails off, before she turns to Loki, "Go without me, make sure to bring back everything you can. The Quantum physics book and my dimension viewing goggles are in my dresser."

"Got it." Loki then turns around and grabs onto his brothers, "Levi, fire up the portal!"

Immediately, Levi and Lisa begin to tap away at the portal's controls, causing the dimensional bridge to reactivate.

With that, Loki whispers, "Remember guys, hang on tight and don't get separated." Then, the group of nine runs through the gate.

And a few moments later, they stand upon the burnt out pile of rubble, with similar sights surrounding them.

"Is… is this our home?" Lane goes, "It's… a big mess." He tries to joke, only for his voice to fade in pain.

Loki remains silent as he steps forward and slides down the rubble pile. Quickly, he digs into one of the smaller ones, and pulls out a small, broken plate, "Yeah, this is, or should I say was, our home." He shows off the damaged object, "Look around, our stuff is buried under all this rubble."

Immediately, the other boys comply by jumping from their perch and sliding away in random directions.

Lars walks over to another nearby pile and digs, only to pull out a small, charred book. For a moment, the Goth boy stares, before clutching the book and letting go, leaving it at his side as he continues his search.

"Get whatever you can salvage. You never know what could come in handy…" He glances over at a small pile, and notices a familiar ring glimmering in the noontime light. _"No… Bebe…"_ He fights back the pained tears, _"Keep it calm Loki. You're in charge."_ He wipes his eyes with that, while the rest of the brothers begin to follow and search.

* * *

"So… guys uhh… what's up?" Linka sits before the two pairs of parents, with the C-137 ones looking on in confusion, while the D63 ones remain silent.

"Lincoln… what happened?" C-137 Rita asks, breaking the silence with a soft hope.

"Simply put, I went to another dimension…" She rubs her arm in embarrassment.

Lynn Sr. continues, "And why did you go there?"

"Because I was curious and wanted to see what life in other places was like…" Linka's voice softens, _"That… and because I was sick and tired of having judgmental sisters…"_

"So… you decided that just because you were curious, you thought it would be a good idea to run away from home, and dump the worst child we have ever had to raise on us?!" Rita angrily responds while she crosses her arms.

"I didn't mean to leave the real Linka with you guys… it just happened…" The girl shrugs.

"And now my son is my daughter." Lynn Sr. pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration, though his voice keeps calm, "You are so grounded when all of this blows over."

"Ok… I understand." Linka sighs, "Do you wanna ask me anything else?"

"No, I think we should just talk to these people." C-137 Lynn Sr. responds, "It's hard to believe a lot of what you're saying right now."

Rita continues, "Especially since you just up and left and thought that everything was just gonna be fine when you left!"

"I'm sorry… I just…" Linka's voice trails off weakly.

"You lady, you need to know that no matter what happens, we love and appreciate you." Her father continues, "But just because you're having problems with your sisters doesn't mean leaving us is a good idea! We'd punish you more but… by the sound of it, you've been busy in the past six months."

"Thanks…" Linka nods, before walking out of the room, leaving the four adults alone, and they respond by turning to face each other.

A soft, serious air begins to overtake the room, with none of them sure just how to start. And yet, it is the C-137 Lynn Sr. that breaks the silence.

"So… by what our kids have been saying, we've had your daughter as our son for the past six months, huh?" He starts with a nonchalant voice, "And you've had our son as a daughter."

"Yes." 63 Lynn Sr. responds, his voice filling with a fatherly seriousness. "From what my boys have been saying, that is the case."

"That would explain the sudden changes, the sudden attraction to boys, the transgender things…" C-137 Rita speaks up, before looking at her husband, "Why Lincoln started behaving so badly to get his way… the injuries and the shouting…"

"And the hatred of cooking…" Her husband responds, "He, she, I don't even know what to call them anymore, managed to upstage Lola with her tantrum."

"Our daughter really was the worst…" The 63 Lynn Sr. looks at his wife in shame. The woman places a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry honey. This wasn't-"

"Rita… can't you see? This is all my fault." He leans back in the chair as the realization begins to dawn on him. "I made our boys treat her better than a princess. You and I made sure that she would be the perfect housewife. Heck, we even considered homeschooling her so she wouldn't get hurt!"

"Isn't that child abuse?" C-137 Lynn Sr. cuts the man off, "I mean, keeping her locked up and forcing your children to treat her well? Sounds a bit… harsh for the boys if you ask me."

The two parents look at each other for a moment, before 63 Rita turns and shakes her head, "I don't think so… I mean… we never…"

"Were you actual parents to her?" C-137 Rita cuts her off.

63 Lynn Sr. leans back, "Of course we were! We were the best parents we could be for her… despite the circumstances."

For a moment, both pairs of parents remain silent.

"You sure about that?" Yet that silence is short lived. C-137 Rita stands up, "Because from the sound of it, you two decided to suffocate your daughter with love." She looks the duo in the eyes, "Look, I'm not bashing your parenting but…"

C-137 Lynn Sr. speaks up, "If everything we've been told is true and that girl really was Lincoln, then your daughter overworked our daughters, injured herself by falling down the stairs, and if what Lincoln told me is true, deleted some important files from uhh, 'her' computer."

The counterparts simply look away in shame, before the Rita buries her face in her arms, while the Lynn Sr. holds his head, "I shouldn't have made my sons treat her too well… then maybe we wouldn't be in this mess right now."

"Well there's no use in crying over it." C-137 Lynn Sr. continues, causing the 63 duo to perk up, "You can still make a difference."

"How?"

"Easy, we'll help Lincoln fix the universe… and maybe even bring back your daughter."

The four parents look at each other and nod.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Ok… I got my old rifle." Loki declares as he pulls an old, bolt-action from a random pile of rubble, "How about you guys?"

"G'ahh!" Leif shouts as he pulls a small, blue touch pad from the rubble, "I got my old duel disk!" He hits the switch on the device, causing the card slot and cards to pop out from the side, "And my cards!"

Immediately, his Holo-Gear springs to life with, _**"Device detected, absorbing!"**_ and with that, the device glows with blue light for a moment, before scanning the duel disk, causing it to vanish with a cloud of dust.

"What the?! Where'd it go?!" He shouts, only for the Holo-Gear to respond, _**"New data detected, adding function: Duel disk, to queue!"**_

"So my duel disk is inside this thing now?" Leif tilts his head in confusion, before tapping the device's flat screen.

" _ **Affirmative"**_ The device responds.

"Ok uhh…" Leif taps the screen again, " Where's my deck?"

" _ **Initializing function: Duel Disk."**_ And with that, a slot opens on Holo-Gear's body, spitting out his card.

"This is awesome!" Leif shouts as he holds the device up.

A few feet away, Lane trudges through the rubble silently. His movements are slow and unsteady, as if filled with hesitation. _"My sister wasn't my sister… so I was pushing some random boy away just because I thought…"_ He shakes his head, _"This probably wouldn't have happened if I was strong enough all those years ago."_

He throws away an oversized rock, allowing a familiar puppet to come into view, _"There's Mrs. Coconuts."_ He grabs the doll and puts in on his arm, "Hey Lane, I've been having fun!"

"Yeah, what have you been doin' Mrs. Coconuts?" He sorrowfully asks, as if he wasn't just talking to himself.

"I've been buried treasure!" She throws her woodenhead back in laughter.

Lane forces a chuckle, before the doll continues, "Aww, what's wrong Lane? Got somethin' weighing you down?"

"I just… feel worthless. I finally believe that Linka's forgiven me after all these years… and now I found out that the real Linka hates me." He fights the tears forming in his eyes.

"Lane…" The puppet responds, "Lincoln was more your sister than the real Linka was in years!"

"What do you mean?" He weakly responds.

The puppet moves closer to the boy, "I mean, despite everything you've done to her, all the bad jokes trying to push her away, she's never left your side! She was even there when you needed her most! Now it's time to return the favor, grab your performance gear and help her save the multiverse!"

Lane smiles, "Thanks Mrs. Coconuts." He whispers, before taking the puppet off his arm and securing it to his back, with his holo gear repeating what it did with Leif's Duel disk.

Meanwhile, Loni and Lynn dig through the rubble together, as they try to find their belongings.

"So…" Lynn starts.

"What is it Lynn?" Loni speaks in a pained, yet upbeat voice.

"What do you think of… Lincoln?" He looks towards the rubble and throws away let another rock.

Loni hesitates for a moment, "I dunno…" the young man's words are soft, just as they always are. "She was nice."

"But she got us to spill our secrets to her!" Lynn flares his arms in annoyance, "I can't believe she made me admit what I do in my free time!"

"Didn't she practice with you too?" Loni raises an eyebrow in curiosity, "I know it's a secret and all, but…"

Lynn digs into another rubble pile, "Yeah… she, he… loved practicing with me, and cheered it when I showed off new tricks."

"And she's the only person I know that actually loved modeling my new styles… Linka didn't even wanna spend time with me…"

"Why Loni?" Lynn raises an eyebrow.

"She always said that I was too dirty to spend time with." He answers while rubbing the back of his head, "I mean, I love woodshop, but I don't think I'm that dirty."

"Huh wow…" The younger boy rubs his arm, "She said the same thing and trying sports out…"

Loni thinks for a moment, and sighs, "Maybe it was for the best that Lincoln came."

"For some reason… I agree." Lynn then pulls away a rock, revealing a familiar duffel bag, "Ok, I got my gear!"

The older boy does the same, revealing a manual sowing kit, "And I got my supplies too!" He quickly throws the sowing kit into a bag he found and throws it on, "Let's go find the others!"

" _Maybe… maybe it's time…"_ Lynn thinks, before grabbing his brother's arm, "Loni…"

"Yeah Lynn?"

"I think it's time we tell the others the truth…" He rubs his arm in nervousness, "I want to tell the others what I really do."

Normally, Loni would simply shrug with a naïve care. And yet, this time, he puts on a serious expression and nods, "Ok Lynn. Want me to be there when you tell them?"

Lynn nods, "Thanks bro."

"No problem." He crotches to the younger boy's height, "Now come on, let's go find the others." And with that, they return to the hill the arrived at.

Nearby, Lexx picks through more remains, uncharacteristically allowing dirt to fall upon his clothing.

"Hey Lexx, check this out!" Leif runs to his brother's side, "These Holo-Gear thingies can absorb and get more abilities!"

"That's cool." Lexx speaks tiredly.

An alarm goes off in Leif's mind, "Lexx, what's going on?"

"How are you taking this so well?" Lexx turns to his twin with serious eyes, "You know… the fact that the girl that acted as our sister for six months wasn't really our sister…" He looks away and thinks, _"And may be a much better actor than I will every be…"_

Leif smiles, "Nah, I'm sure she was just joking around!"

"Oh… that's how." Lexx shakes his head.

"Now let me show you this!" Leif pulls a card from his Holo-Gear and slaps it down on the flat screen, causing the Holo-Gear to respond with, _**"Memory viewer activated!"**_

Lexx facepalms, "That's not a duel disk Leif!"

"It absorbed my duel disk!" Leif flares his arms in response as the area around them gains a blue hue.

"What's even going on?" Lexx crosses his arms.

"I don't know."

Lexx rolls his eyes, before a familiar voice calls out, "And stay out!"

Immediately, the twins turn to the source- Linka kicking Lexx out of her room with, "I hate you, and I never wanna be in your stupid plays!"

"But Linka-" A younger Lexx tries to argue, only for Linka to slam the door in her face.

" _That was a while ago… like eight months ago…"_ Lexx mentally kicks himself, while the vision continues.

"Don't worry about it bro." A younger Leif pats his twin on the back; "I'm sure Linka's just in a bad mood!" He pulls out and secured a prototype duel disk to his arm, "Some dueling is sure to get her in the mood to hang out!"

The younger Lexx then watches as the younger Leif walks into their sister's room… only to get kicked out with, "I never wanna play that stupid game with you!" an the duel disk to break when he hits the floor.

And before the memory can continue, Leif turns his Holo-Gear off.

Immediately, a silent air overtakes the twins.

"Lexx…" Leif whispers.

"Yeah?" Lexx painfully answers.

"Linka wasn't the best sister… was she?"

Lexx shakes his head, "No… no she wasn't."

"But Lincoln was, right?" He continues with a hopeful voice.

"Yeah… she was." The younger twin sighs.

"Then we gotta be the best brothers we can for her." Soft tears begin to flow down Leif's eyes, before he turns towards his twin with a begging gaze, "To repay the favor, right?"

His twin nods, "Yeah, we gotta." Lexx then grabs his toy sword, "We gotta be her knights and protectors."

"And let her protect us too." Leif secures his device and grabs his brother.

"Yeah, now let's go meet up with the others.

A few minutes after that, the boys stand before Loki and the portal home once more.

"You guys got everything you need?" He asks with a commanding voice.

The boys nod, "Yeah."

While Leon waves around the rattle he had found and flails his arms, "Poo-Poo!"

"Let's go save the multiverse." Loki then turns to face the nearby portal, "For everyone." And with that, he steps through with the others following along after.

 _ **Back in Dimension C-137**_

"Here they are, Lincoln!" Lana steps away from the door.

"Hey guys!" Linka greets as Ronnie Anne and Clyde walk into the home, with Cristina following behind them.

"What's going on Lame-O?" Ronnie Anne crosses her arms.

"Yeah Libby, the party's going on without you!" Clyde adds while rubbing his arm in embarrassment.

" _This is going to be tough to explain…"_ Linka sighs, "Hey guys."

"Hey." Ronnie Anne stares at the girl in contempt.

Linka sighs again, "I called you here to tell you something."

Clyde tilts his head in curiosity, "And what's that?"

" _How am I gonna word this…"_ the girl puts on a soft smile, "For the past few months, I've been in another dimension, and well… the person you've been hanging out with wasn't me."

"What?" Ronnie Anne raises a skeptical eyebrow.

Linka raises her arms, "Look, I know it's hard to believe, but it's really me now. Especially after spending so much time with that imposter."

"You've lost it." Ronnie Anne shakes her head and turns around. "Call me when you get your head back together."

"I haven't!" Linka shouts, "I really have been gone for the past six months!"

Immediately, Ronnie Anne snaps back at the girl, "Oh yeah, and how do you expect to prove that?!"

" _Well… let's see if what Linka said during our meeting is true… There's only one way to find out."_ Without warning, Linka grabs Ronnie Anne's shoulders, "Do you remember this?" then, she pulls the girl in close, causing their lips to meet. Instinctually, Ronnie Anne's leg pops up, while both girls' faces go red in embarrassment.

The nearby girls squeal in excitement, while Lori can't help but take a photo and start texting, "This is literally so cute!"

A few moments later, the duo breaks their kiss, with Linka whispering, "Ronnie Anne… I'm sorry for leaving, but really, it's me, Lincoln." While she smiles, _"Dead fish my arse. Heh, I guess I just have a preference for Ronnie Anne!"_

Ronnie Anne smiles at the girl, "Hey Lame-O, you're the only one I know who kisses like that."

"Thanks Ronnie Anne." She lets go and rubs the back of her head. "I guess I've got some explaining to do huh?"

Ronnie Anne breaks the embrace, and motions towards the nearby boy, "First, it looks like you have some explaining to do for Clyde."

"Oh… right." She turns towards the boy, "Hey Clyde."

The dark-skinned by remains silent, as if trying to understand exactly what's going on.

"Look… I know this is hard for you to hear…" Linka starts.

Only for Clyde to cut her off with, "No duh!" He flares his arms up, "For the past five months I've been dating you!"

"Clyde…" Linka speaks with a soft voice. "That wasn't me." She holds onto his hand, "You deserve way better than Linka."

"What do you mean?" Clyde looks into Linka's soft brown eyes.

The white-haired girl continues, "The person you were dating for the past five months was my counterpart, Linka." She raises her fist, "The girl did whatever she could to ruin my life and make me stay with her family."

" _No wonder she didn't seem like Lincoln at all…"_ Clyde immediately thinks. "So you were gone for six months?"

Linka nods, "Yeah Clyde. Though, I've been doing my best to keep up with Ace Savvy."

"To think… the only girl I've dated was just my best friend…" He pouts for a moment, "And she wasn't even that good of a girlfriend…"

" _Heh, Clyde's taking this better than I thought he would."_ Linka nudges the boy, "Hey, don't beat yourself up Clyde." She glances at the redhead standing behind Ronnie Anne, "I know just the girl for ya."

"Really?" Clyde perks up.

The white-haired girl then pulls him into a hug as well, "Heh yeah. I've learned a lot in my six-month long adventure. And I'm glad to be back with my best friend."

"Thanks Lincoln." Clyde returns the hug with that.

A few more minutes pass, before Linka breaks the hug and stands before her two best friends, "Now, I gotta explain myself again, huh?"

"Just make it quick, Lame-O." Ronnie Anne chuckles.

"Ok then." Linka takes a deep breath, "I left home six months ago, stuff happened, and now I need all the help I can get to save the world!"

A beat passes.

"So… did you get a boyfriend?" Ronnie Anne asks with a curious tone.

"Yeah… his name is Ron Andy… he's your male counterpart." Linka responds, causing Ronnie Anne to blush and look away with a smile. Linka responds by rubbing the back of her head awkwardly.

"I still can't believe that the girl I was dating past five months was just a girl in your body?" Clyde nonchalantly goes, "I'm still struggling to follow with it… who's the perfect girl for me anyways?"

"Oh that's easy." Linka points at the waiting red-head, "Cristina!"

"Wait, what?!" Cristina shouts and flares her arms, "Why me?!"

"Trust me, I have my reasons." She laughs for a moment, "But anyways, will you guys come with me to save the world?"

The trio talks amongst themselves for a moment, before nodding in unison.

"Awesome!" Linka cheers, _"Everyone's here for the end!"_

"Linka…" Four familiar voices greet, before the four adults enter the room.

"Mom, dad?" The young girl turns to face the four adults.

"Is everything you told us about our daughter true?" 63 Rita asks, her voice filling with despair.

Linka doesn't hesitate to nod, "Yeah." She holds her arm nervously, "I'm sorry I lied to you guys."

63 Lynn Sr. holds his fists tightly, desperate to contain the rage he had built up throughout the day, "Is there anything else we should know?"

The white-haired girl shakes her head.

Finally, the stoic man can't hold it in, and he looks down, allowing a single tear to flow down his right cheek, "Why were you so… good?! Why couldn't you just stay like her?!"

"Because I wasn't Linka." Linka responds, "I did my best to hide as her, but I just couldn't keep the façade up, so I just acted like myself."

The two 63 parents look away in pain.

"Your daughter tried to ruin my life." She continues, "She hurt my sisters and tried to kill me in order to get her way." She looks into their eyes as she does so, "But no matter what happened, I wanted to come home."

She looks at the C-137 parents, "I'm sorry I left you guys. If it's any consolation, I did learn to appreciate what I got. That's why I'm going to do my best to save everyone no matter what."

"Thank you for being our daughter" 63 Rita declares, "The time you spent with me was the first time I legitimately had fun with my daughter. You were never as distant as my real daughter… Thank you."

"No problem mom." She then does her best to throw her arms around all four the parents, "Thanks for everything you guys. I promise, I won't let you guys go."

"And we won't let you go either." The four declare in unison, before returning the hug.

*Fwumm!* The bridge goes, before the boys return from their trip, with everything in hand.

"We're home guys." Loki greets.

Immediately, the two scientists jump from their post, before Levi asks, "Did you get the tools?!"

Loki nods, "It was easy." He pulls a small bag out of his ruck-sac and hands it to the boy.

"Splendid!" Lisa shouts, before both she and Levi run back to the operating console and work quickly.

A few moments pass with that, with everyone crowding the room.

"And it's done!" Levi declares, before Lisa turns from her console, "With this, we will be able to travel to the core of all of this craziness!"

"That's great!" Linka goes, before she turns to her siblings, "You guys ready to go?"

The girls and boys talk amongst themselves for a few moments, before turning to the young woman and nodding.

"Awesome." Linka takes in a deep breath.

The two scientists tap away at their console for a moment. Then, with one final hit of the "Enter" button, the interdimensional gate reboots, and begins glowing with soft, red light. "It is done." Lisa and Levi jump from their chairs and turn towards their siblings.

"Well then, it looks like it's time to go." Nell cheerfully declares.

"Guys, now's the time check everything you have." Loki holds up his Holo-Gear, "All the devices that you wanna bring along or think can help you with whatever William has in store for us." He taps the screen, "I brought my phone and…" He pulls out his bolt-action, "My old drill rifle."

"You loaded it?" Linka tilts her head in confusion. "I thought that thing was demilitarized?"

Loki nods in response. "It wasn't. I just took out the firing pin. Now I put it back."

Nyla then steps forward, and scans the computers with her gear, "Ok, we'll relay these coordinates to command so we'll have backup later for extract."

"Remember guys

Everyone nods in approval before lining up to enter the portal, "So, anyone else have anything to say before ewe travel to another world?" Lori asks.

"I do." Linka steps forward. "Guys… if we don't make it, I want you to at least know why I left." She looks at her siblings, "I left because I felt lonely… that I just didn't belong here."

"What are you talking about?" Luna tilts her head in curiosity.

"I was the only boy out of ten sisters and well… I just wanted to see how it felt to be 'one of the boys'." Linka sighs, "I learned that being one of the boys isn't the best thing in the world… And leaving you guys was a mistake…" She looks to the boys, "But that mistake allowed me to meet the best brothers a girl could ever have, and Linka is an idiot for not wanting you!"

"Don't get all mushy on us Linc." The female Lynn chuckles.

Linka rubs her head in embarrassment, "I'm trying, I'm trying. I stayed and got to know you because, well, you boys grew on me. I thought you were all just crazy and weird but… you guys are the best! And I don't wanna every leave you behind."

"Heh twerp, you really haven't changed much." Lori chuckles, as she rubs her hair.

Linka notices the boys get just a bit tense for a moment, though she continues, "Guys, I've learned that I belong with all of you and no matter what, we'll face the future together."

"In the words of a famous Internet person, 'United as one and divided by zero'!" Luan laughs, while Lisa responds, "Dividing by zero is mathematically impossible."

"Whatever sis. It's the thought that counts." Lucy appears next to her.

"Are you all with me?" Linka finally asks, her voice filling with a fearful hope, "You guys don't have to come…"

"Look twerp." Lori puts on a loving smile, "We just got you back and we're not letting our brother go." She places on hand on the younger girl's shoulder, "Even if he is our sister right now."

"Yeah!" The female Lynn mashes her hands together. "Poo-Poo!" Lily adds.

Lana pulls out an over-sized wrench and twirls it for a moment, causing it to land on her shoulder, "Plus, you never know when you need a plumber!"

"You're a plumber?!" Leif runs over to his counterpart.

"Yeah. Best in the family!" Lana raises her head with a prideful smile. "You gotta get dirty sometimes ya know!"

Leif can't help but blush, "Wow… you're the first girl I've seen that loves getting dirty."

"Ugh, wow, I never thought I'd meet someone as dirty as you bro." Lexx chuckles while holding his toy sword on his shoulder.

"Agreed." Lola adds with a scoff.

"Guys, guys, calm down." Linka smiles and motions for them to stop. _"So far so good."_ She turns towards the boys, "What about you guys?"

The boys talk amongst themselves for a moment, before Loki responds, "Lincoln, you may not really be our sister. But after everything that's happened-"

"Thank you!" Lane shouts, raising Mrs. Coconuts as he does so. "Thanks to you, we've all had the best time of our lives! With a sister that wanted to have us!"

The male Lynn nods and secures his duffel bag, "I got my gear sis, and I'm ready to go."

"You play sports?" The female Lynn looks at the bag intently.

"Yeah, I do." The boy responds.

"Let's go sometime." The girl responds, causing the boy to blush in embarrassment.

"Ok!" The male Lynn then promptly steps away from the girl.

"What about you guys?" Linka turns to her friends.

Ronnie Anne shrugs, "Lame-O, I'm still having trouble understanding just what's going on." She smiles and shoves her hands in her pockets, "But hey, you're my friend and I'm not letting you run into a dangerous alternate reality on your own."

"Agreed." Clyde responds, "Plus, we've got a lot to catch up on!"

Cristina simply nods in agreement.

"And I'm not letting my child go alone either." 63 Rita declares, while C-137 Rita nods in agreement.

"It's about time I acted like your father." 63 Lynn Sr. speaks up, while C-137 Lynn Sr. continues, "Let's go!"

Finally, Linka turns to the hunters, "And what about you guys?"

"It's our job to fix anomalies." Lyle answers with a monotone voice.

Only for Nyla to step forward, "Even if it wasn't, we'd still be there for ya."

"Thanks you guys." Linka smiles, with relieved tears beginning to stream down her cheeks, "Come here y'all!" she then shouts, and with that, everyone joins in one, massive, group hug.

And after it breaks, the oversized crowd stands before the open portal.

"Well, here we go!" Linka shouts, before running into the gate, with her friends and family following soon after.

* * *

*Boom* thunder cracks as a second portal opens up, and from it, Linka flies out.

She quickly dusts herself off and glances around, _"This place doesn't look anything like before…"_ Instead of the starry space, now she stands in the center of a dark, triangular room, with nothing but a simple triangular door to lead her out. _"Looks like William's been busy."_

A moment passes before the rest of the group finally arrives and repeats the process.

"So, we're here." Linka steps forward and approaches the door.

"Be careful Linka." Loki goes.

"Yeah, we just got you back twerp." Lori adds… only for everyone else's talking to begin filling the room.

"Holo-Gear… flashlight?" Linka goes, causing the device emit a beam of light from its screen, which she then aims at the front door, "Here we go."

She shines it above the entrance, illuminating a small sign, "Abandon all hope ye who enter."

"William is aiming for Dante's Inferno." Lisa quips while Levi continues, "It looks like whatever is beyond this door will be treacherous."

"Well, no matter what it is, we gotta move." Lyle declares, "We're ready when you are, Linka."

"Then, into the breach!" Linka takes a deep breath, and forces the door open, revealing The Trapezohedron of Tricks.

6-15-18-7-5-4 9-14 6-9-18-5 1-14-4 20-5-13-16-5-18-5-4 9-14 8-5-1-20. 15-4-25-19-19-5-21-19 6-1-3-5-19 8-9-19 18-15-1-4 15-6 20-18-9-1-12-19. 15-14-12-25 20-8-9-19 20-9-13-5, 8-5 8-1-19 6-18-9-5-14-4-19 2-25 8-9-19 19-9-4-5.

 **A/N The end is swiftly approaching, I can't believe it you guys! I hope you enjoyed this! Anyways, I thank Exotos135, Wolvenstrom and Insane Master Writer Studio for their help! Also, the next story I'm updating is Finding A Loud, on Saturday.**

 **Guest replies (C31):**

 **BlasterDarkLena: Thanks, I hope you enjoy!**


	33. Different Dimension Ground

**A/N Hey guys! I'm here with the next chapter. I apologize for the slightly late posting, (though I have a reason! My mom's in the hospital and I haven't had the time to write much) but I'm here now and I've brought the next chapter!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Welcome to the entrance to William's perfect world (Inspired by Divine Comedy).**_

Story Thirty-Three: Different Dimension Ground

Immediately, a long, stone path leading through an overgrown forest comes into view. All is quiet, save for the howling of wolves and calls of owls. The woods are lush green, while soft moonlight attempts to illuminate the path ahead, though a thin fog obscures what lies ahead.

" _Well… this isn't that bad of place I guess…"_ Linka clenches her fists cautiously, before she peeks back at her family and friends, "Welp, here we go."

"We're with you." Lyle nods, as she and the rest of the massive group watches on.

" _Here we go."_ The young girl takes a deep breath with that. With a slow, careful step, the white-haired girl walks onto the stone path, _"Don't be a trick… don't be a trick…"_ And when she puts just a minor amount of wait on the stone, her foot falls flat upon the rock. She breathes a sigh of relief, _"I guess William finished building this part already."_

"Looks like it's safe to walk here." Linka then walks forward, "Come on, let's get a move on."

"You heard our sister, let's go." Loki motions for the rest of the group to follow, before taking point in front of Linka, "I'll stay in front, I have a feeling William's gonna want you the most out of all of us."

Linka nods in understanding, "All right Loki… just be careful, ok?"

The older boy flashes a smile at his sister… only for Lori to come to his side. "If you're in front, I'm in front too."

Loki considers arguing the logic of her decision for a short moment, though pushes that thought to the back of his mind with the thought, _"She just wants to protect Lincoln too. No problem then."_ He turns to the girl, "You ok with this Link?"

"Yeah… I'm ok with it." Linka nervously responds.

Lori and Loki look at each other for a moment, before nodding in unison. Loki then readies his rifle, "Then let's go." He aims down sight and steps into the layer of fog, "Whatever you do guys, stay close. We can't get separated in this mess."

"You got it Loki!" The boys immediately respond in some form or another, while the girls remain silent.

"Good." Loki begins to step forward, "Now come on, the longer it takes us to get… wherever we're trying to go, the more likely it is that William's gonna find out we're here.

And with that, the others nod, before following along in a tense silence.

" _There has to be more to this… William loves tricks, he would add a trap or something to stop us from reaching him…"_ Linka thinks as she runs her hand through the nearby foliage, and yet… nothing seems to happen. _"This just feels… off."_

After a few minutes of blind walking, Loki holds his fist up, ordering the group to stop. "Hold up, I got something."

"What's up Loki?" Luke calmly comes to the older brother's side, allowing the object of interest to come into view, "Uhh… what's that?"

In front of the group stands a small, stone pillar. The obelisk is rather simply decorated, with only a simple inscription upon on plain grey background.

"Not sure." Loki lowers his weapon, and turns on his Holo-Gear's flashlight, "Levi, mind reading this?"

Lori adds, "You too Lisa."

The two scientist Louds then step forward and quickly get to work.

" _Maybe that has something to do with his tricks…"_ Linka immediately thinks, before Levi declares, "This text is written in Latin."

"So can you decipher it?" Loki asks, before raising his rifle towards the fog.

"Of course." Lisa nonchalantly types into the Holo-Gear, "This device no doubt has a universal translator built in." She types the function and scans the text with that, "Ok, here it is… Gratam inferno liberabis. Si vis ad perfectum orbis tribulationes oportet constitui. Ingrediens mundum nisi qui. Roughly translated, this becomes: Welcome to the inferno. If you wish to enter the perfect world, you must pass the trials I have set. Only they who is pure may enter."

"Well that bodes well." Nyla quips, before typing into her Holo-Gear.

"Yeah." Linka nods, _"Something's not right… are we being watched or something?"_ She then shakes her head, _"No, he couldn't know that we're here… could he?"_

"Hey guys!" Leif shouts as both he and Lana rush back to the group, "There's a cave up ahead!"

"Well then, I guess we know where we're going next." Linka nervously declares. "Let's get moving."

Then, a hand falls upon her shoulder.

She jumps in shock, only for her eyes to fall upon one of the hunters, "Huh, Lyle?"

Lyle motions towards her Holo-Gear. "We're not alone."

"What do you-"

*Roar!* A call echoes, causing the nearby birds to scatter in fear.

"What was that?!" 63 Lynn Sr. shouts, while the nearby Hunters raise their Holo-Gear in response.

"By the sound of it, like, it must be the first challenge!" Nell then begins typing into her device.

"En Guard guys." Lyle orders, her jet-black sword already drawn. "We've got company."

From the fog, three beasts step into view.

The first is a spotted, white, cat-like creature with a feline stature. Lisa immediately points and shouts, "An Uncia Uncia!"

"Lisa now's not the time to be smart!" Lori shouts, raising her phone as she does so, "What the heck is that thing?!"

Levi immediately answers, "It's a snow leopard!"

"That's not all we've gotta deal with guys!" Girl Lynn raises her fists, "We've got a Lion coming up from here." Her gaze falls upon a Lioness slowly stalking the group, preparing to pounce when ready.

"Dangit." Linka whispers, before trying to look ahead, though to not avail. Slowly, a dense fog begins to fill the air, obscuring the forest around them.

*Growl* Another animal begins to step through the fog, allowing its grey coat to glow in the foggy moonlight.

"A wolf." Lana grits her teeth, before she nudges her counterpart, "Yo, Leif, did you ever manage to tame that wolf that we found in the backyard."

"Nope." The boy answers, "How about you?"

Lana shakes her head as well.

"Linka, what'll we do?!" Luna holds her bass up defensively, preparing to use the darn thing as a real axe as need be.

"We gotta get to that cave." Linka holds up her Holo-Gear as well, hesitating on making her next move. "What do you guys think?"

"Easy." Lyle responds, "Nell, Alex, Aeif, we'll handle them, alright?" She looks at the white-haired girl, "The rest of you need to go ahead. We'll catch up."

"What about me?" Nyla immediately asks, spawning in her hardlight guitar as she does so.

"You're needed with the others for now." Lyle grits her teeth, a professional air begins to circulate around her as she does so, as well as eliciting a nod from the ex-hunter.

"You sure you guys can handle em all?!" Linka nervously asks.

Aeif nods, "Course we can! We've dealt with way worse before!" He then spawns a small rifle in her arms.

Alex then looks at the eldest brother with begging eyes, "Loki… watch out."

Loki nods, before pointing at the fog ahead. "Ok guys run!"

And with that, the rest of the group goes on ahead, before the computer goes.

 _ **Generating Hunting Field: Titan Assault.**_

"Let's do this." Aeif smiles, before the four hunters finish generating their weapons. "It's time to make these things learn respect!"

Alex smiles, "I'm gonna keep one of them as a pet!"

The three beasts then glow for a moment, before multiplying, surrounding the quartet.

"This is, like, gonna be awesome!" Nell shouts, and with that, they jump into action.

* * *

" _They're gonna be all right."_ Linka frantically thinks, as the rest of the group rushes into the cave. _"They're hunters, they've trained to handle things like this."_

"Don't worry about it Lame-O." Ronnie Anne declares, as both she and Clyde run up to the girl's sides, with Cristina holding back just a bit.

"Huh?" She flinches.

"From the look of it, they seemed to have everything all taken care of, they'll be fine ok?" Clyde adds, the boy struggling to keep up with the two girls, "You don't have to worry about them at all."

" _I hope so."_ The girl thinks, before the group stops once more. _"Though… I can't help but William wants this to happen… he'd want me to come alone…"_

"Another one!" Lori shouts and everyone points their flashlights ahead.

The now slightly smaller group stands before another obelisk. The cave around them is dry, with nothing of interest within sight… though one can't help but feel that something would be hidden at its end.

Levi and Lisa waste no time getting to work translating the text once again.

"Ok." Levi holds up his Holo-Gear and reads aloud, "' _Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate_. Hic est pervenire ad aliquod videris amisisse bestias tenebris. Quid enim, aliud oportet te dare sursum. Hoc unum, ut imagination.' This translates to, 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. To reach here you have lost some to beasts of darkness. To continue, you must give up another. This one, to imagination."

" _I don't like the sound of that."_ Linka immediately steps passed her siblings, _"But we gotta keep going on."_

"Linka, wait up!" both Lynn Jr.'s shout, before the rest of the group follows the girl deeper into the cave. More time passes before they come across the second room.

This one is rather plain, surprisingly enough. With only outlined cubes making up the walls and floor. Though, between the entrance and the door out lies a massive chasm.

Linka stands in front of the group for a moment, with everyone staring at the hole below, and no one sure just what to say next.

"So uhh… how are we gonna get to the other side?" Lane nervously asks… only for Luan to respond, "We just gotta be the chicken!" The two comedians immediately laugh with that.

"Guys! This is serious!" Linka shouts, before turning back to the gorge, _"There has to be a way across…"_

"How about we just, like, shoot something across and walk over!" Leni's voice fills with a naïve excitement, while Loni throws his arm around her, "That's a great idea Leni! I can't believe I didn't come up with it!"

"Nyla, do these Holo-Gears have the ability to form bridges and stuff?" Loki nonchalantly asks, eliciting a nod from the ex-hunter.

"Yeah, we just need two or three working in unison to generate a stable field we can walk on and-"

"Poo-poo!" A voice shouts.

"Uhh… what was that?!" Lexx fearfully steps closer to Lola, while Lola simply counters, "Ugh, that sounds so annoying!"

"Poo-poo!" Lily shouts while flailing her arms.

"Poo-poo!" Leon responds while doing the same.

Both Rita's look at their children in confusion, while struggling to hold them close.

" _What's going on with those two? They've never acted up before…"_ Linka nervously looks at her two baby siblings for a moment, before turning to face the exit. The doorway standing just across the way, mocking them and their inability to fly.

Suddenly, a blinding light enters the room, forcing the Louds and their friends to cover their eyes. And when it dies down, a small baby floats before them, this one wearing nothing but a diaper- similar to what the two toddlers of the group are in.

Before anyone can react to the sudden appearance, both Lily and Leon glow with lavender light, and begin to float.

"What's going on?!" both Rita's and Lynn Sr.'s shout as they watch both babies fly towards the newcomer, as if preparing to fight them.

"Uhh, Linka, what the heck is going on?!" Luke asks as he watches the babies begin to glow once more, somehow causing Lego bricks to simply blink into existence and start flying at the opposing baby.

"Poo-poo!" Lily shouts, followed by a bunch of random baby gibberish, and an oversized pacifier blinking into existence.

"I think they want us to go on without them!" Loki shouts.

"What?!" 63 Rita shouts, "I am not leaving my son to fight that… thing!"

"Neither am I!" C-137 Rita continues, raising the Holo-Gear they had been given, despite neither knowing just how to use the darn things.

Suddenly, the cubes around them glow, before enveloping the three babies in a container of glass.

"What the heck is going on?!" 63 Lynn Sr. defensively raises his fists, though no one can do anything but watch as the three infants use their imagination to fight.

Loki grits his teeth, before pointing at the remaining hunter, "Nyla, I need you to start building the hardlight bridge, the rest of you, give her cover!" He then pulls out his rifle, aims it at the opposing baby, and fires… only for the bullet to disintegrate upon hitting the barrier, _"Dangit!"_

"Loki!" 63 Rita shouts, "Don't shoot at the babies! They could get hurt!" only for an oversized hammer to pass right by them.

"Yeah, and so can we mom!" Lori then taps away at her Holo-Gear, while Nyla instructs her how to do so. And within a few moments, the bridge across opens up, allowing the group to move on.

"Come on guys, we gotta go!" Linka shouts as he runs across the bridge, followed by the rest of the group.

"But we can't just leave them here!" The parents shout in unison, though their children grab their arms in response.

"Sorry mom and dad, but they'll be fine. We gotta go!" Luke and Luna grab their parents with that, and force them into the next room- this one is a similar cave syste with a light at the other end.

"I can't believe we just did that!" 63 Rita shouts, "We just left our babies to fight some... lookalike!"

"Don't worry mom." Linka goes with a reassuring voice, "Leon's a tough kid. He'll protect Lily. But right now, we've gotta worry about ourselves!"

C-137 Lynn Sr. Then intervenes, "What are you talking about?! They're just babies!"

A moment passes for Linka, as an old memory rushes to the front of her mind, "He's tougher than you'd expect. And a great brother too."

"Here's the next obelisk!" Lori yells, immediately followed by Levi reading aloud.

"Limbi ex concupiscit. Duo habet partem in pulvis. Vita est brevior tempus terere in dolore. Expectans postero ludetque favis emissa est provocatione ad summitatem." The male scientist starts, "From limbo to lust. Two have bit the dust..." his voice fills with fear while he looks at his parents. The four adults look on in fear for a moment, before Lisa continues in a monotone voice, "Life is too short spend time grieving. The next challenge is to woo them waiting at the top."

"What the heck does that mean?" Ronnie Anne flares her arms in frustration.

Loki silently steps passed the stone structure and walks into the nearby opening, "Guys, over here."

With that, he climbs through. A few moments later, the massive family finds themselves walking up a narrow walkway with only a mountainside for balance.

"William really went out of his way to build this world..." Linka gazes at the massive opening that had build built just for this miniature mountain. The room is oversized, with the surrounding landscape giving a sense of the massive scale of William's perfect design. In the distance, they can see a miniature star, illuminating the path ahead.

More walking passes, before the group finally reaches the mountaintop. Ahead lies the open door out, with a lone figure standing before them, blocking the way.

"Hey." Loki raises his rifle. "Mind if we get through here?"

Everyone else follows his lead and raises their weapons.

"Haha!" The figure laughs, as she turns to face them.

"Carol?!" Lori shouts.

"Roli?!" Loki continues.

"Well William never said I'd be having company this soon!" She raises her cellphone… only for a laser to burst out from the top."

Immediately, Lori snaps to Lisa, "Can my phone do that?"

Lisa proceeds to grab her phone open it and tap a button, "Yes." And with that, a laser bursts out from hers as well.

"Cool!" Lori goes, "But remove it later."

"You know, you're interesting." The young woman throws her head back in laughter, "Keep me entertained and I'll let the rest of you pass!" The lookalike then steels her gaze.

"Everyone, go on ahead, we'll handle this." Loki commands, before firing his weapon... though nothing happens to the sister look-a-like.

"But what about you guys?!" Linka fearfully shouts.

Lori and Loki look at each other and nod, before the young woman answers, "We'll be fine. Cross the bridge and go! Luna and Luke, you're in charge!"

The two counterparts nod.

And with that, Linka nods, and the rest of the group moves on, this time with Luke and Luna taking point.

"You sure Lori and Loki can handle that girl?" 63 Lynn Sr. rushes to Luke's side, concern filling his voice.

"Yeah dad, You sent Loki to military school remember?!" Luke nonchalantly looks at his father and raises his thumb.

Immediately Clyde blushes, "Lincoln… did Lori go to military school?"

Linka shakes her head, "No Clyde. Only Loki went there." She raises her head, _"To think… Linka didn't want him as her brother… she's stupid!"_

"We're here guys!" Luke shouts, before everyone rushes into the room once more.

The next room is simple, with only a colorful wall of fabrics to cover up the bland whiteness.

"Ok Lame-O where's the exit?" Ronnie Anne asks, only for a voice to call out, "Dangit!"

Immediately, everyone turns to the source- a young, blonde woman standing nearby. "Dangit, this isn't working!"

"Uhh... who's that?" Male Lynn Jr. turns to his only sister and points his thumb towards the girl.

"She kinda looks like me!" Leni cheerfully skips over with that... only for Loni to follow her soon after. "Hey there, me!"

"Uhh guys, I don't think..." Linka starts, only for Luke to motion for her to stop. _"That is definately not a good idea..."_

The boy-in-charge looks at her sister and simply nods, silently ordering her to just watch.

"Hey guys, I found the stone thing!" Lane shouts, followed by Luan joking, "Yeah! It's long and hard!"

Immediately, Lisa and Levi run over, with Levi reading aloud, "Cum Transierunt libidine Dantes ipse intravit in circulo ex gula oriuntur. De habitu perfectum est quod potest esse desideravit."

Lisa follows up with the translation. "Once passed lust, Dante entered the circle of gluttony. The perfect dress is what is to be desired."

" _Perfect dress?"_ Linka immediately thinks. _"How the heck are they gonna make that?!"_

"Like. I don't know which fabric to pick!" The feminine figure shouts as she randomly picks one of the tiles from the wall.

"Hey Neli! I haven't seen you since Christmas!" Loni greets with a naïve sincerity.

"You know her?!" Leni gasps.

Loni nods, "Yeah, she passed by the house during Christmas time!" Then he looks at the Leni look-a-like, "Whatcha doin' here?"

"I was just looking for a new fabric to choose, but I just don't know which to pick!" The young woman flares her arms in frustration.

"Well we'd love to help you out, but…" Loni starts. Though, Luke immediately shouts "No!", only for threads to fly around the older boy's legs.

"Like, those threads look terrible!" Leni counters, only for threads to fly around her legs as well.

"What the…" Luna's eyes go wide, "Let our sister and brother go!"

Neli turns to the group with a sinister smile, "Nah. I think I'll keep them!"

"We're not leaving you guys!" Linka shouts, before she and the rest of the siblings join in trying to pull them from their colorful binding.

"The rest of you can go." Neli puts her hands on her hips, "But those two won't be allowed to leave unless they create the perfect dress to match the perfect girl!"

Leni immediately shrugs, "Like ok then!" She turns to Loni, "Can you help me?"

63 Lynn Sr. shouts, "No he can't! Loni hasn't sown anything in his life!"

Loni takes a deep breath, "Yes, I can."

"Loni, what are you talking about?" 63 Rita tilts her head in confusion.

"Mom, dad, you know the amazing dress Lincoln wore for her birthday party?" Loni starts, before looking at his siblings. Male Lynn Jr. slowly fidgets in place, "I made it."

A shocked air overtakes them in response, though Linka breaks the silence with, "Then go do it Loni! Catch up later! You can do it!"

"Got it Linka." Loni smiles at his sister. "And go get that William guy for me, ok? I'll make sure that this dress is perfect for you!"

The parents then take point and run ahead, with Linka being the last to step out of the room with, "Good luck you guys."

More threads wrap around the young duo's legs, before a table appears in front of them, with another in front of the look-a-like.

"Whoever makes the better dress wins!"

* * *

After that, the remaining group rushes through another dark hallway. This one ending in a massive classroom.

" _William isn't pulling any punches with his designs."_ Linka looks at the surrounding room in awe. In front of the group rests row upon room of college desks, with oversized and randomly changing text scrawled upon the blackboard.

The next obelisk rests at the entrance, right in front of the center aisle.

The two brainy children get to reading, "Ut movere ad unum oportet meminisse quod scientia sit potentia, et cum potentia avaritia est." They speak in unison, "In order to move on, one must remember that knowledge is power, and with power comes greed."

"The heck does that mean?" Female Lynn tilts her head in confusion.

"Take your seats class!" A feminine voice shouts, before a young Lisa look-a-like steps forward. "I am Doctor Sila, and it is your job to complete this mess of an equation!"

Levi stares at the randomly changing text of the board for a moment, "And if we choose to just move on ahead?"

Sila shrugs, "Simple." She then snaps her fingers, causing both Lisa and Levi to stumble in confusion, "You lose the knowledge you hold dear and the door forward closes. She snaps her fingers again

"Then it seems we will be preoccupied here." Lisa turns to the remaining group, "Siblings, go on without us, we will catch up if time permits."

"You sure you guys can handle her?" Linka worriedly asks.

Lisa and Levi both nod, "Yes, use the Holo-Gear to translate the rest of the text."

"Good luck you guys." Linka nods in understanding, before the rest move on once more.

"Remember, whoever can complete this puzzle first will be allowed entry into the perfect world." Sila snaps her fingers once more, causing the chalkboard to divide in two, with two separate formulas appearing on both.

"This is going to be difficult." Lisa quips, while adjusting her glasses.

"Yes, quite. Luckily, we are geniuses." Levi responds, before grabbing the chalk and handing a piece to Lisa.

* * *

" _This has to be part of William's plan. He wants us to be broken up!"_ Linka thinks as they rush into the next room. Unlike the previous ones, this one is red with hexagonal designs making up the walls and floors. Surprisingly enough though, it's just a straight shot to the door… which they find locked.

"Dangit… how are we gonna get through?!" Linka turns to the rest of the group, eliciting shrugs from her siblings.

"Hey guys, there's a switch over there!" Leif shouts, "And another rone of those obelisk thingies!"

"I got it!" Clyde declares, before tapping his Holo-Gear and reading aloud, "A simplex sollicitat aperire ostium. Potest tamen duri mollis sit? " He looks at the two Lynns, "A simple puzzle to open the door. Though can the hardy be soft?"

Linka steps forward and looks at the puzzle in front of them. Hundreds of hexagonal platforms stand tall above a lake of boiling magma, while two platforms stand across for each other. "It looks like we're gonna have to throw the balls from that platform and put them in on the other…"

"That's gonna be a problem though… that platform is over boiling lava, someone would need a pretty good handle on balance to get across…" Luke goes, "It's easier to get to the balls, but you'd need to somehow get to the other one as well.

The male Lynn takes a deep breath, "I guess now's a time as any to tell you guys the truth." He drops his duffel bag.

"What?" Luke tilts his head in curiosity, while the remaining group looks on in interest.

"Guys… I don't do sports." He then pulls out a small leotard, "I do ballet."

A moment of shock passes, while the siblings look on.

"I didn't tell you guys because I was worried that you'd bully me for being so girly…" He looks away in shame.

Linka grabs his arm, "Lynn, if I've learned anything in the past six months, it's that things like this don't matter. What you do with it does!"

"Thanks Linka…" He responds, before he female counterpart punches his arm.

"Now we've got someone to go to the other side with!" She smiles at him.

And with that male Lynn gets changed. "Ok then, here we go!"

"Race ya Twinkle Toes!" Female Lynn Laughs, before easily jumping along the pillars,given their larger size.

" _Here we go."_ Male Lynn takes a deep breath, before carefully and gracefully hopping from pillar to pillar. Female Lynn reaches her spot with relative ease, and simply watches her counterpart buck and weave to get to the other side.

" _Wow…"_ Female Lynn looks on in awe.

63 Lynn Sr. on the other hand sighs, _"You know… I hate the fact that he's doing this… but I guess it isn't so bad after all."_ He looks at the white haired girl, _"Maybe it's not so bad after all…"_

"Ok! Here we go!" Male Lynn then stands on the tips of his toes, before jumping the final gap to reach the opposing platform. "Huh, I did it!" He cheers, before turning, "ok Lynn, throw it!"

"With pleasure!" The counterpart shouts, before grabbing one of the balls and flinging it across the fiery gap, landing right in the boy's hands. "Great!"

Male Lynn immediately shoves the ball in the receiver, unlocking the door… as well as causing a set of bars to emerge from the platforms. "What the?!"

For a moment, the duo pounds at the bars keeping them caged, though none budge.

"Guys, are you ok?!" Luke shouts.

"Don't worry, go on without us, we'll be fine!" The duo shouts in response.

"When you get home, I wanna see your best moves Lynn!" Linka shouts in response, before turning to her father. 63 Lynn Sr. looks on in shock, as if surprised that his son's rather embarrassing hobby had somehow allowed them to move foward. Linka grabs his arm, "Now's not the time for an existential Crisis dad!"

And with that, they run into the next doorway.

* * *

The next room consists of a massive rock hall, with nothing but rows upon rows of seats ready for a performance. Spotlights shine by the stage, illuminating the dark room, while also providing the perfect backdrop for a performance.

"Looks like you guys are up next huh?" Linka quips, before Clyde walks up to the waiting obelisk.

"Here goes… Musica docebit in via deinceps. Virgilius vates ardenti iter in abyssum irent." He then translates, Music will guide the way forward. Travel with Virgil, bard of the burning abyss."

"So the next challenge is a musical huh?" Lexx motions towards himself, "I'm sure my musical talent will be of some use here."

"As if." Leif chuckles, while Lola and Lana just cross their arms, "Boys."

Luna then pulls out her bass, "Well if it's a music challenge, we better be ready." And with that, she strums.

Without missing a beat, a Luna Look-a-like steps forward, from behind the curtains. "Are you ready to rock?!" She revs her guitar, "I'm Nula and I challenge you to a rock off!"

"Dangit." Luna goes, "Rocker's challenge. We can't decline a rock off."

Luke revs up his guitar, "Let's go."

Nyla spawns in her own hardlight guitar, "Then let's bring it to em'!"

"Uhh guys, you sure that's a good idea? I mean you just walked in here and you've never played before!" Linka nervously suggests, while the others nod in agreement.

"We're counterparts right?" Luke asks, eliciting a nod from Nyla.

"Then we're the band, Me, Myself, and I!" Luna shouts, before all three rush onto the stage and stand before the look-a-like.

Meanwhile, everyone else runs into the next exit.

"So, what's the challenge here?" Luke nervously holds his axe close.

"This!" Nula shouts, launching a wave of light at the trio, forcing them to scatter.

Nyla is the first to regain her bearing, and counter with, "So this is gonna be some real hard rock huh? Let's do it!" Then she strums as well, sending more waves of sound at her look-a-like.

"It's time for a rock off!"

* * *

The next room consists of a similar set up, though instead of the rocker's set up, this room is quiet, and given a more sedated feeling.

"Great, what's the next challenge?!" Lexx shouts in annoyance, while everyone else just walks on in agreement.

"Well whatever it is, it won't be too hard!" Lane throws his head back in laughter.

"That was a good one!" Luan responds by laughing as well.

Lars appears next to his brother, "No it wasn't."

Lucy the appears next to him, "I agree whole heartedly.

"Here, let me read!" Clyde shouts in frustration, before reading the next Obelisk aloud, "Basi providere a tenebris humor, et a quo incipere." He turns towards the comedians and writers, "Humor and darkness provide a base from which to begin. Yeah, you guys are up."

"Awesome!" Lane taps his Holo-Gear, "Let's get this show on the road!"

"Ladies and gentlemen!" A voice calls out, before a trapdoor in the stage gives way, allowing a Luan look-a-like and a Lucy look-a-like to rise up. "Today's acts are gonna be great! If this wanna move on, they better perform!"

Luan and Lucy look each other while Lars and Lane do the same.

"You guys are gonna hold them off?" Linka nervously asks.

"And who do I see here?" The Luan look-a-like goes, "Our main event! I'm Auln and this is my partner Culy!" She looks at her Gothic sister, "Culy, if you would please bind the prisoners!"

"With pleasure." Culy responds, before raising her arms. Immediately eight sets of jet-black chains emerge from the walls, binding the four in place.

"What the?!" Linka stumbles back, only to fall into Ronnie Anne's Arms.

"Haha, it looks like we're the captive audience today!" Luan laughs.

Lane chuckles as well, before turning to his younger, remaining siblings and parents, "You guys go on ahead, we've got to deal with these guys!"

63 Lynn Sr. nods, "All right son, make em laugh!" Then he turns to Lars, "And Lars, make them feel."

His sons nod, before the rest rush out the door.

"Today's challenge is…" Auln snaps her fingers, causing a crowd of copies of both her and her sister to appear in the nearby seats, "Make us laugh and cry at the same time!"

"I have a bad feeling about this." Lucy quips in response.

"Nah, it's just a **phat** feeling!" Luan puns.

* * *

" _We've lost almost everyone…"_ Linka thinks as she, her parents, friend and remaining brothers rush into the next room: A massive track with two motorcycles waiting at a starting line, and the exit right across from them. Seemingly the most straightforward out of all of William's rooms.

"Come on, let's go before something-" Leif starts, only for a massive dragon to appear, this one with twin look-a-likes riding on its back.

Quickly, Linka turns to her friend, "Clyde, what do the obelisk say?!"

"Illuminare spatio somnia racemosis novam spem. Qui facti sunt lux lucet in vos!" He immediately turns to the group, "Clustering dreams give light to a new hope's horizon. You must become the light that shines upon!"

Then, the dragon disappears, leaving the two look-a-likes standing before them.

"Nala?!" Lexx steps forward, "What are you doing here?!"

The twin laughs, "I'm just doin' my job. I am a dark hunter for William Cryptos, and if you wanna go any further, you'll duel!"

Lexx grits his teeth in response. "Fine then, Holo-Gear initialize!"

"A two-on-one isn't fair!" Leif adds, "If you're dueling so am I!"

Lana looks at Lola, with the pageant queen face palming in response, "We're really gonna do this aren't we?"

Linka immediately responds, "Heh, trust me, it could be way worse you guys." She looks at the boys preparing to go. "You should see what happens when they have the ARC system and the backyard."

"Well Lincoln, tell us about it later." Lana goes, "Cause I'm in!"

Lola scoff, "Whatever, you go have your fun Lana."

"What? Don't wanna join in on the crazy card games?!" The older twin taunts. "Are ya chicken?"

"What? No!" Lola turns back, "I am not chicken!"

Lana responds by flapping her arms and clucking like a chicken.

"That's it, I'm in!" Lola's face goes red in embarrassment.

"Then it's time to rev it up!" Leif shouts. "Go on without us!"

"Good luck guys." Linka goes, before Leif runs over and gets on one motorcycle, with Lana getting in behind him and Lexx and Lola doing the same on the other.

The timer counts down. _**3… 2… 1… Riding Duel, Acceleration!**_

"Come on, let's not let this go to waste. We gotta move on." Linka declares, eliciting nods from the remaining group, before everyone rushes through the open door. _"I just hope that this is all worth it…"_

* * *

The remaining group rushes through a slightly lighter cave-like corridor with that, before finally coming across a small, rocky opening with a single obelisk resting in the center, signaling the end of the cave.

"We've made it… the end of the cave!" Linka shouts as the remaining group stops in place, _"This is it… we've made it."_

"Heh, about time Lame-O." Ronnie Anne chuckles, while Clyde adds, "Yeah."

Cristina finally speaks up, "Yeah! This has been crazy!"

Immediately the three friends turn to her, with Linka starting, "Cristina?! You were here the whole time?!"

Cristina nods, "Heh, yeah. I'm just really good at being quiet."

Ronnie Anne playfully punches her friend, "Haha! I guess you'll be here to see the end after all!"

Linka smiles, "Yeah. You will be." She turns to Clyde, "Ok Clyde, read the last one and let's get outta here!"

"Will do." Clyde then walks over to the nearby Obelisk.

The white-haired girl then turns to her parents, "So uhh… how are you guys doing?"

The four parents remain silent, unsure of just what they were forced to do.

" _Well that's a bad sign."_ Linka immediately thinks, before turning and walking over to her friends, "So what's it say?"

Clyde then takes a deep breath, "It says, Insidiæ. Te vincere debes ipsa longius progrederetur qui quaerebant, quae illos negavit se defendat." He turns to the girls, fear filling his voice, "Treachery. To advance any further you must defeat she who had denied those that sought to protect her."

Suddenly, the stone obelisk begins to crack, before shattering in burst of smoke.

Immediately Clyde and Ronnie Anne jump in front of Liunka and Cristina, covering them from the blast.

Then, the smoke clears.

"Hello Lincoln." A familiar voice greets, before a young girl steps into view.

"Linka?! I thought William condemned you!" Linka shouts.

"Reports of my death were greatly exaggerated." She chuckles, "Linka's still gone, but since William hates me so, he decided to place a copy of me here to guard the entrance to purgatory."

Linka grits her teeth, "Well then, what's your challenge? I'll-"

"We'll handle her." 63 Lynn Sr. declares, as the four parents step forward.

63 Rita then continues, "You three need to keep going. If what's been going on is really this important, than it's better that way."

"But what about you guys?" Ronnie Anne asks.

The two sets of parents stand up straight and look at the young girl, "It's time we acted like parents to her.

Linka, Ronnie Anne and Clyde nod, before heading through the exit: a small hole in some rocks caused by the explosion.

"Linka." 63 Lynn Sr. starts. "I wasn't a good parent for you, but that doesn't mean you should've ended up like this."

"You were never my father." She responds, before holding up a ball of light, "Now, goodbye!" And with that, she fires.

* * *

After they leave, the four remaining children find themselves standing on top of a cliff, with nothing but the ocean surrounding them for miles.

"Whoa, this place is amazing!" Clyde shouts as he looks out into the wild blue yonder.

"This would be a nice place to have a picnic!" Cristina adds with a smile.

" _If we weren't trying to save the world, this might've been a great place to take a vacation to."_ Linka thinks as she approaches the next obelisk, this one resting atop a cliff, with the calm ocean below. "Ok Clyde, here's the next one."

Clyde doesn't hesitate to walk over and read aloud, "Grata esse purgatorias. Vestra frui maneat. Per ipsos custodes autem videbo vos." He smiles, "Welcome to purgatory. Enjoy your stay. The guardians will see you through."

Ronnie Anne looks at Linka, "Who are the Guardians?"

"That would be us." A voice calls out.

"So, you've made it this far!" Another voice calls out, before Claudia, Cristopher, and Ron Andy look-a-likes jump in front of the remaining trio.

"If ya wanna go further, you gotta fight us.

"Bout flippin' time." Ronnie Anne readies her fists. While Clyde backs away in fear.

"Are you gonna be ok, Ronnie Anne?" Linka nervously asks.

Ronnie Anne nods in response, "Of course Lame-O." She then places a soft kiss on the girl's cheek, "Go save the world!"

Linka blushes and holds the kiss, before steeling her gaze and running passed them.

"I am so screwed." Clyde whispers, "What about you Cristina?"

Cristina holds up her fists as well as she can, "I have no idea!"

And with that, the trio charges at their counterparts... as well as they can.

* * *

After that, the lone girl climbs up the majestic mountain. _"William really was aiming to make this the perfect world... And his paradise..."_ Upon reaching the mountaintop, she finds a translucent set of stairs. Surprisingly enough though, they remain unguarded, and so cautiously, she walks up. Eventually, the white-haired girl moves passed the clouds and up to two pearly gates resting upon them.

An obelisk resting at their base reads, "Gratam paradisem." Which Linka translates as, "Welcome to paradise."

The white haired girl takes a deep breath with that, _"Well, here goes nothing."_ And with that, she steps through.

Immediately, she finds William standing before the Macguffin, his once well-crafted suit is torn, with his pure white hair disheveled and his body shaking.

"William?"

Immediately the man turns to Linka, glaring at her with bloodshot eyes, while his face now has wrinkles. It is as if the once simply old, yet youthful man had let what little child he had left in him fade, "What is it?"

"I've come to save my home."

23-5-12-3-15-13-5 2-1-3-11 1-14-15-13-1-12-25 7-9-18-12-19, 25-15-21'22-5 13-9-19-19-5-4 1 12-15-20!

9-20'19 20-8-5 6-9-14-1-12 3-15-21-14-20-4-15-23-14 1-14-4 23-9-12-12-9-1-13 8-15-12-4-19 20-8-5 20-18-9-7-7-5-18!

 **A/N Ahh, I can just feel the end of this story coming soon. Can you guys? As always, I thank Wolvenstrom and Sunblast X for all the help they've given me! Those two are lifesavers! I apologize again for the late posting, but given the fact that my mother is in the hospital (she's getting discharged soon) I really haven't had much time to write. Also, I thank Sir Crocodile222 for the idea of Dark hunters!**


	34. Different Dimension Encounter

**A/N Nope, I am not mentioning rule 34 with this chapter! Oh wait… I just did. Heh oh well. I'm back and this time tellin' the next tale! Also, there's some news about next week's updates in the 2** **nd** **A/N**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Plot: Linka and William finally meet once again, and everyone must fight their counterparts.**_

Story Thirty-Four: Different Dimension Encounter

William stares at the young girl for a moment. From what she can see, the man is exhausted, with bags under his wavering eyes. His legs tremble, while his arms dangle lazily at his sides. His hair is disheveled, with long grey strands mixing with his pure white. Surprisingly enough however, his suit is still intact, with the only difference being its undershirt being loosened up, "Oh, it's you."

Linka nods, "Yeah, it is." She raises the Holo-Gear, "And I'm here to save my home."

"Well isn't this quite the surprise?" William speaks with a dejected and annoyed voice as turns back towards the device, "I offer you a place in my perfect world and you deny me. So I send you back with your family and friends so you can enjoy the end of days with them, and then you come back anyway!" He flares his arms in frustration, "Make up your mind will you?"

"William, I've made up my mind." The girl declares, "I wanna save my home from destruction." Determination fills her voice, as she braces herself for a fight. Though, she can't help but to grit her teeth.

"I see." He takes the Macguffin in his hands for a moment, before returning them to Matter Key Watch, "And you plan on standing against me? A man with the power the Outer Entities residing in the palm of his hand?"

"No matter what you do, you're still a just a human." She mutters, her body unwavering against his taunt.

For a moment, the man looks on skeptically, before throwing his head back in laughter, "Oh, you're serious! Haha!" He wipes the tears forming in his eyes, "My, my, you're just a little boy trapped in a little girl's body! What could you possibly do to stop me?"

Linka stares at the man in defiance, "I could-"

"There is nothing you could possibly do to stop me." He motions towards the cubic device on the girl's arm, "That pathetic Holo-Gear is worthless unless you have defeated me in a battle. And from my experience, you haven't even come close to beating me at anything!"

"Oh yeah, well I'll-" Linka tries to start again, yet William's building frustration breaks through.

"You'll do what? Try to convince me to stand down by throwing out pretty pictures of home? By trying to remind me of the family I so desire to save? You know, Lincoln Loud of dimension C-137, I have been around for countless eons, and have been at this mission for almost as long. Nothing you say or do will stop me from enacting my plans." He then turns and begins to mutter, "You know, I have been watching you Mr. Loud." The Macguffin watch starts to glow, "I have seen each and every one of your misdeeds. Your abuses of your sisters and brothers, and their abuses of you."

He adjusts his hair, allowing the familiar tuff to reform ever so slightly, "I know who you are, after all, I am you and you are me. At heart at least."

Linka defiantly grits her teeth, unsure of just how to counter his rant. Yet, she doesn't lower the Holo-Gear.

The man begins to pace the floor around his worktable, "Now, I've seen you do much good and evil in your life, and I've seen you keep going no matter what… But the question remains: 'Why do you do the things you do?'"

The girl remains silent, _"What the heck is this man going on about?!"_

"Do you not see the futility of your tiny, insignificant existence?" He glances at her and motions his hands in front of him, gesturing to the countless stars surrounding the heaven he had made.

"What are you getting at William?" The young girl starts tapping away at her Holo-Gear, though she doesn't break eye contact with the old man.

"It's simple really." A soft frown begins to form on his face, as the clouds begin to rise, allowing the duo to stand in space with countless stars floating around them, "Can't you just see that you are part of a bigger universe?"

"At this point, I have no idea what you're talking about." Linka shakes her head in disappointment, "I think trying to build the impossibility that is the perfect world has finally gotten to ya." She then re-hardens her stance.

"What I am saying is, your sins are an invitation." He looks into her soft blue eyes, with his own, "An invitation to a great good I have planned."

"What good could come from destroying the multiverse?!" Linka spits in response, "You're ending an uncountable amount of lives, only to save just a few to put in your perfect world!"

"And yet, once my perfect world is complete, it'll all be worth it. I'll lead the way." He smiles, before taking a knee in front of the girl, "Only through me, the Shadowman, will you find what you do seek."

Linka crosses her arms, "Ya done with your monologue?"

The man smiles and nods, "Yes, so what is your decision? Will you join me?" he reaches his hand out, "And together, my friend, we can build a better world."

"I've told you this before and I'll tell you again." She stares him in the eyes and slaps his hand away, "I will not let my home die."

William stands up with that, and stares at the girl with an annoyed contempt. "You know, I still don't understand you!" He shouts, before holding his hands behind his back, "You left your home because you felt lonely and hated the way your life had turned out! You abandoned your family and yet still choose to fight for their home, why?"

Linka clenches her fists, yet remains quiet. It is as if the answer she desired to give simply alludes her.

"I have spent eons trying to create the perfect world." He points at the young girl, "Even you, my dear. You are the only Lincoln in existence that has managed to acquire the Macguffin. You are the only one of my counterparts for the device's guardians to deem worth of using it. And yet, you choose to ignore the infinite possibilities"

"No." The girl stares at the man with unwavering eyes, holding her fist close to her heart as she does so. "Abandoning my family was the worst mistake I ever made." She points at him, "You as well as I should know how it feels being an only sibling around talented siblings while you're only an ordinary boy!"

"Of course I-"

"I felt curious." Linka continues, harsh tears beginning to fill her eyes, "I wanted to see what life was like on the other side of things. What it would be like to not be all alone so much." She stares at him, "Yeah, I had my friends, but you know what, friendship can only go so far as to not make you feel alone. And well when you feel lonely and inadequate, you end up feeling hate." Then, she braces her body to run at the man, though chooses instead to hold her position, "When you live like I have, you start to hate yourself. You start to want to move on. You start to desire something that'll change your life. I just took it to its logical conclusion."

"Yes, yes! Then why have you chosen to deny me so?!" He leans in close to the young girl. "Together, you'll never have to be lonely, you'll never have to feel hate or fear or whatever! You'll be a queen among men and women! You'll never be alone again!" He flares his arms in excitement, hoping that the young girl would finally relent.

"Because if I've learned anything from my time in dimension 63i'\, it's that you need to do the most with the chances you're given." Linka throws her hands out, "I made sure to tell my family that I was curious to what the other side was like, and I made sure to tell them that I was lonely being the only boy in the family. But I never told them about my hatred and resentment of them. For a time, I hated the fact that my sisters had great talents while I had nothing. I was afraid that I'd just be as worthless as a random guy off the street!"

"Of course, of course." William waves her off, "then why don't you join me?! In my perfect world you don't have to be anything you don't want to be, I can give you the brothers and sisters you so desired! Anything you want, all for the ease of helping me!"

"Because I learned the truth." Determination begins to fill her voice, "I saw what I would've become had I let those emotions guide and rule me. I met people touched by someone just like that." She glares at him, "And you banished her to the Sahara desert."

"Whatever! These are just minor issues in the ocean of the multiverse." The older man tries to wave her off, before he starts shouting, "In an infinite universe, every possibility is considered and explored. Every 'should have', 'could have' and 'would have', is done from every conceivable and inconceivable angle. Every achievement achieved and every chance taken and not taken. No one can do anything that hasn't been done, is being done and will be done infinite times across all reality! Nothing is special because existence has no concept of unique. Everything and everyone is just a copy surrounded by infinite identical versions of themself with variations too yoctoscopic that it would take hours just to say the name of the number of realities between yours and the Where our hair is only half a shade more grey!"

"Yeah. And if anyone knows what you're talking about, it's me. Because remember, I am you. GLaDOS, being the arse she is, has shown me countless realities. And yet, I don't feel like everything is worthless. Infinite universes equal infinite possibilities. You wanna create the perfect universe? Well I think the multiverse is fine as it is!" Linka speaks with a defiant tone, "The times I spent with my siblings were the best, and from them I learned my truth." She then holds up her Holo-Gear, "You can't have good without the bad William, and I will fight you to save my world."

"Is that so?" He looks away in shame, "Very well then. I have spent eons with the Macguffin trying to build my true world... to get her back." He chuckles, "For a moment, I believed that I had found a suitable replacement for her in the event that I would never be able to so. Why do you think I reverted Linka but not you?" He quickly glances back. "Haha… and yet, you remain adamant on keeping your naïve feelings towards your dimension of origin…"

Linka raises an eyebrow in confusion, "What? You were prepared to treat me as her replacement just to get yourself whatever feeling you possibly could?!" She crosses her arms, "You need to let this stuff go! This isn't healthy!"

"I am aware of my health. Immortality will do that to you. And yes, I was prepared to make you my queen, so that we could rule over the perfect world as an immortal king and queen." The man's hand begins to glow with a soft blue light, "But… it seems as if you are too… imperfect and perfect at the same time. I cannot allow you entry after denying me so many times. Goodbye Lincoln." And with that, the man swings his hand, sending a burst of light at the young woman.

" _Welp, this isn't good!"_ Linka immediately holds up her arms to block, though deep down she can feel that this wouldn't be enough to stop the attack.

The blast hits immediately after that, kicking up a cloud of the stardust used to form William's paradise.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Come on guys!" Nell shouts as she jumps above a small pride of the dark lions, "There's just too many of them to take down on my own!" She quickly uses her Holo-Gear's Maneuver Equipment to grapple to a nearby tree, before swinging in the air with her dual swords and coming down upon her opponents.

"I'd love to help ya Nell, but these wolves are just too much!" Alex shouts, before he spins with his blades, slicing through a countless number of the dark wolves… only for the ones he cut down to reform from the remains and charge back at them. "Dangit!"

Yet, before the wolves can pounce on her partner, Aeif jumps down from above, and spins as well, chopping the several of the beasts in half… though like before they reform from the halves as two separate beings.

"This isn't looking good." Lyle calmly declares as she attempts to defeat her incoming attackers- multiple white-furred tigers. "There has to be a way of taking them out without allowing them to multiple more!"

"Well how about we hide in the trees first?" Nell suggests, before jumping up to one of the tree branches, "It'll be easier to talk up here!"

The three remaining hunters look at each other and nod, before following and jumping on adjacent tree branches.

"So what's the plan Lyle?" Aeif looks up at the young woman, before motioning at the beasts circle below, "Cause from the looks of it, we'll need to call in backup to get anything done around here."

Lyle shakes her head, "That's not happening. You remember what the AEU is like right now." The hunters shudder at the thought of that much chaos. Of course, being Louds they were used to the feeling… but when an organization is so chaotic that you're able to walk into the building, raid the armory and leave without anyone stopping you, well… that's chaotic.

"So what're our options?" Alex asks, before tapping his Holo-Gear, "The Titan Assault field is designed to take out large opponents even though our forces may be small."

"Nell, any suggestions?" Lyle turns to the ditzy woman.

The young woman responds by rubbing the top of her head, "Well, we could always try sealing them!" the three other hunters look at her with skepticism filling their expressions. She shrugs, "I mean, we're outnumbered and we can seal animals without beating them in a fight right? So why don't we try it out."

Her commander shakes her head in response, "No, that'll never work." She motions towards her Holo-Gear, "These devices are designed to seal the physical mass of a creature in suspended animation for extended periods of time." She looks back at the beasts circling below, "They're useless on beings that are just made of… whatever these guys are."

A moment of silence passes amongst the hunters, with none of them knowing just what to say next.

Yet, eventually Alex sighs, "I wonder how the others are doing."

* * *

"Hold still!" Loki throws a punch at his counterpart, only for the young woman to effortlessly dodge his assault.

"Nah." She taunts, "I wanna be entertained, and so far, seeing you struggle to hit little ol' me so fun!" She then ducks under one of his swings, causing Loki's frustration to build even more, "Ugh! You are so annoying!"

She chuckles, "What? The power of lust allows me to move effortlessly like the wind." She then jumps up and throws a punch in the air, causing a gust of wind to rush and Loki, forcing the boy back ever so slightly.

"Ahh!" Lori then shouts, as she charges at her doppelganger's back, "I'm gonna get you back for taking the homecoming title from me Carol!"

Roli simply sideswipes the attack and scoffs, "Really Lori? If you were in any way, shape or form competent at combat, you'd know that screaming just tells your opponent where you are!" She the throws another punch in the air, causing Lori to fall right into Loki.

The duo grunts in pain for a moment, before Loki pushes Lori aside, and jumps to his feet, "So, this is what a weird version of us is like huh?"

"Yeah." Lori forces herself to her feet as well and dusts herself off, "She she's really messing with my stuff!"

" _Heh, I guess that's what we do to everyone else though. How appropriate."_ Loki braces himself for a moment, before charging at his opponent once more… only to receive the same result once more.

"Dangit." He goes, "This is getting us nowhere! There has to be a way for us to fight without getting stopped by her control of the wind!"

Lori grits her teeth in frustration, "Well that's literally the worst thing possible right now. She raises her phone, as if she were preparing to use it as a weapon.

"Yawn." Their counterpart goes, before she takes a seat on a nearby rock, "You two are starting to bore me… I know!" She snaps her fingers, "I'll let you come in close to me before I punch you away. After all there has to be something between us to make this interesting!"

Loki and Lori look at each other and nod, "Well it's our only chance." And with that, they rush their counterpart.

"Man, William wasn't lying when he said this dark hunter gig would be fun." She chuckles, "Just sit around judging those that wanna enter his perfect world? Is there an easier job out there?!" And with that, she punches once more, causing the two counterparts to be sent back in defeat.

"She's tough." Loki quips, as he gets back on his feet and helps Lori up as well.

"Yeah…" Lori goes in response, _"Just hang in tight Lincoln."_

"Yawn." Roli motions her hand around her face, "You two are starting to bore me now."

"Oh, really now?" Loki raises an eyebrow in interest, "So what do you want us to do now besides try to get passed you?"

Roli rubs her chin for a moment, before snapping her fingers with an idea, "I know! You two should kiss!"

Immediately, the duo's faces go red in surprise, "What?!"

* * *

"Come on Leni! We gotta work faster than this!" Loni goes as he quickly stitches up the bottom of the perfect dress they had been challenged to make.

"Like, I'm trying Loni! But these fabrics are so bad!" Leni complains before picking up another roll of the stuff… only for what they had been given to break up upon contact with the needle.

"I know Leni." The young man responds, "But we've got no choice! We've gotta do this or else we get turned into dresses too!"

Leni shakes her head, "I know, that's why we gotta split this work forty-forty! It's the only way we'll even stand a chance at getting passed her!"

"But remember Leni, we both gotta work on the perfect dress or it doesn't count!" The young man then starts working on the outline for the top part of the dress, while Leni works on the other side, with the two desperate to catch up to their counterpart.

"You guys are like, so slow!" Neli taunts as she not only completes the planned outline for her dress, but also starts working on the construction of the main body.

"Dangit…" Leni whispers, "She's way ahead of us and we don't even have an idea of what to make for this contest!"

Loni thinks for a moment, _"There has to be something we can make to beat her…Wait… I think there is!"_ Quickly, the boy turns towards his counterpart, making sure not to break from his work, "Leni, did you ever make a cute dress with weird wings for your sister?"

Leni nods, "Yeah, like, why?"

The young man quickly turns back to his workstation, "I think we can use that for the dress design!"

The young woman thinks of the idea for a moment, before nodding in agreement, "All right then I guess it couldn't hurt…"

Suddenly, the threads that hold the duo in place begin to crawl up their legs.

"What the?" Loni goes in shock, only for the dark hunter to laugh.

"You guys are so fun to watch!" She chuckles, "Here, I'm always wanting more cause apparently gluttony is like, wanting more and more, and like, you guys are actually really good!"

Leni frantically beings working faster, "Whatever, like, I have no idea what she's talking about!"

"I agree Leni, I just wanna get back to see Lincoln again! She's the best sister a guy can have!" Loni cries out as he moves forward and begins stitching up the bottom of the dress.

"I do too!" Leni cries, "He's the only boy to ever care for me like he did. I know we're not the brightest around, but as long as we have Lincoln, we'll be able to do anything!"

Neli chuckles, "Then why don't you keep wishing for him to come back? Cause I don't think you'll ever see him again!"

Loni and Leni look at each other look at each other in concern, while more threads begin to climb up their legs.

* * *

"All I see is shattered pieces, I can't keep it hidden like a secret!" Luke shouts as he jumps to front and strums, sending out a wave of energy at their opponent.

"I can't look away, from all this pain in the world we made!" Luna and Nyla Then rush in from the sides, repeating the attack with similar results.

Yet, Nula counters, "I will never slept so sound so silent. With images of broken and dreams and broken things and all I ask of you now, is please do not forget me, and please do not regret me. I never meant to leave!" And with that, the trio's counterpart sends them back flying.

" _This is just like when I first met Nyla… her attacks are so alike!"_ Luke thinks as he quickly hops back to his feet and sings, "Everyday you need, a bulletproof vest, to save yourself from what you could never guess!" And With that, he strums, sending out yet another sound wave at their young opponent.

"Yawn." She chuckles, "You should give me more of a challenge." Then she sings, "Going back to the beginning, I never thought I'd make it out alive." She pauses to strum, sending several waves at the trio.

"This isn't good you guys." Luna hops to her feet and sings, "Am I safe today? When I step outside in the wars we wage!"

Nyla then adds on, "Yeah, we know!" She then strums as well, before singing, "Our future's here and now, here comes the countdown!"

And with that, the trio strums their guitars simultaneously, sending a single massive wave at their dark hunter counterpart.

Yet, Nula simply laughs it off, before shouting, "'Work harder, work harder!' They told me. My father, my father would he be proud, of me?!" And with that, she launches a single wave strong enough to send the trio back, as well as cancel out their attack.

The young woman chuckles, "Man this is fun. I love having Virgil's powers!" She then begins to strum softly, as if attempting to build a dark mood in the already deserted theatre, "Come on, get up! A rock off's boring when you won't get off the ground and face me!"

"We gotta keep fighting…" Nyla climbs to her feet and reactivates her hardlight guitar, "We gotta make sure that Lincoln's safe wherever he and the others went…"

"I agree." Luke gets on his feet and holds up his guitar, "We gotta catch up to them somehow."

"Well right now guys, it looks like we're gonna have to beat our counterpart in a rock off, or else we're not going anywhere." Luna quips, before she quickly adjusts her axe.

And with that, the trio grits there teeth once more and starts playing another song. Hopefully, this one would be able to counter their counterpart's solos.

* * *

"Come on force witch!" Lane shouts, before jumping from his hard light partner onto the stage below.

Luan immediately adds, "Well that was a 'trick' landing!" before she throws her head back in laughter, "Get it you guys? Get it?!"

A moment of silent passes, before the crowd starts throwing tomatoes at the young comedian and shouting, "Boo! You suck!" Forcing both Luan and Lane to rush off the stage.

"Dangit, tough crowd." Luan quips, before Lane dusts himself off. "Any ideas on how to break em Lane?"

Lane shakes his head, "I don't have anything Luan. All I've got in terms of supplies are some balloons, a wire, and Mrs. Coconuts!" He then puts the puppet on his hand and speaks through her, "And even then, that still isn't much!"

Luan counters with, "Well… all I have is my clowning gear, my cream pies, and Mr. Coconuts." She then puts the puppet on her hand and speaks through him, making sure to move him next to Mrs. Coconuts before a word comes out, "Hey hot stuff, how are you doin'?"

The boy chuckles, "Well mister, I'm doing fine, how about-" Yet, before he can finish the joke, the dark chains that bind them to the room tighten, causing a shooting pain to rush through their legs, before they fall to the floor.

"Dangit!" Lane shouts, while Luan responds, "This hurts more than that time I got pied by Luna accidently playing music while I was cooking!"

The duo then stands up, and immediately dusts themselves off, "So what are we gonna do now Luan? They hated our act!"

The girl rubs her chin in thought, "I don't know Lane, I thought you'd know what we could do!"

"Don't worry." Lars appears by his brother's side. "Lucy and I have been working on something to make them feel, but you guys gotta keep them busy and get them to laugh."

"Agreed, despite the fact that we can't stand happiness, we need to help Lincoln." Lucy appears at her side.

Luan and Lane look at each other for a moment and nod, "All right then."

Behind them, Culy and Auln get the crowd to laugh and cry, before walking down the side steps with a prideful expression filling their faces.

"Well… no matter what happens, we do it together." Lane gulps in fear, as the quartet steps up to the plate once more.

* * *

"So… what do you do besides ballet?" Lynn asks, while she shakes the bars to her cell, but to no avail.

The boy sighs, "Well… I also do dance… and some tennis and ice skating…"

"Dude… that's girlier than anything I do." She chuckles, "I guess you really are my counterpart.

"Heh, yeah." He stands up, "And I guess you do lots of manly man sports and junk?"

The female Lynn nods, "Yeah, tons!"

"Ooo, it sounds like I've got some people caught in my trap!" A voice calls out, before a young woman walks into the room.

Male Lynn's eyes go wide in shock, "Nyln?!"

"Oh Lynn, hey." She chuckles, "Well looks like we're gonna have fun. Sports style!" She smacks her hands together, signaling her readiness to fight.

* * *

"Spread your jet-black wings and storm forth in tandem with roaring thunder! Slash apart the lightning! I Synchro Summon! Cascade, level seven: Assault Blackwing: Raikiri The Rainshower!" Lexx shouts before the black-winged warrior appears on the field. "And with that, I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn." He glances at the other set of twins on motorcycles, "Your move bro!"

"Ooo, that looks nice!" Lola goes, "Though I think the bird needs to lose the metal wing." She stares at the card's abs. "He's a hunk!"

"Don't get too used to that Lola." Lana taunts, "That's nothing like what you're gonna get when you grow up!"

"As if!" Lola crosses her arms, "No boy would ever wanna marry someone like you Lana!"

"Yeah huh they would!" Lana counters by crossing her arms as well.

"Ladies, this isn't the time to be arguing." Leif goes, "We're on motorcycles, playing a card game, while fighting for our lives ya know!"

"We know!" Lana then holds onto the boy once more, "Why don't you start your turn then? We gotta win this so we can catch up to Lincoln!"

"All right then Lana." The boy pulls on the throttle, causing his boke to rush down the paved track, onto the curved wall beside it was the quartet makes the turn. "I summon my three RaidRaptors and overlay them! Obscured falcon, raise your claws sharpened by adversity and spread your wings of rebellion! I Xyz summon, rank four: Raidraptor Rise Falcon!"

And with that, the second bird appears, though this one is much more mechincal than the first.

"Now that's a robot bird!" Lana shouts with pride filling her voice, "Where can I get one of those?!"

Leif chuckles, "You just gotta open the right packs!" Then he pulls out three cards and slams them in his Holo-Viewer Duel Disk, "I'll set three cards and end my turn!"

"Pathetic!" The opposing twins shout, before Naln goes, "I'll summon Edea the Heavenly Squire and Using her effect I can summon Eidos the Underworld Squire!" She boosts passed the two sets of twins, "Through Eidos' effect, I can normal summon once more. I tribute my two monsters! King of the dracoslayers and hero of the new duel terminal, descend now and rule over those that slay evil! I tribute summon, level eight: Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King!"

And with that, a massive draconic monster descends to the field, wearing pure silver armor and wielding a mighty blade.

Alol the goes, "By destroying four cards in my hand I can summon True King Lithosagym, the Disaster and True King Agnimazud, The Vanisher! And when they hit the field, I overlay them! Terror that rules of civilization's twilight, descend and plunge the world into chaos! I Xyz summon, rank nine: True King of all Calamities!" And with that, a massive black, dragon-like monster appears on the field.

"This doesn't look good guys!" Leif shouts.

Only for his twin to counter, "No duh Leif!"

* * *

"Uhh, ok, did you find the coefficient?!" Lisa nervously goes.

"I tried, but then it turned into yet another variable!" Levi responds, "This is extremely difficult, there doesn't seem to be a pattern to any of these changes!"

"There has to be…" Lisa scans the board, "In science, patterns allow one to create ideas and predict the result of tests!"

"I know that, I'm you!" Levi then fills in a number…. Only for the board's random changing to erase and rewrite the question, "Dangit…"

"You two seem to be having more issues than expected, maybe you aren't smart enough to enter the perfect world after all!" Dr. Sila taunts, "Oh well, I think I know how to fill in my board now!"

"We have to beat her…" Levi and Lisa both turn back to the board. _"But how? There doesn't seem to be a set pattern to how any of these patterns are changing! It just seems to be a random mess of numbers randomly changing just to frustrate us!"_ Levi takes a deep breath and fills in a number.

A moment of nothingness happens with that… only for a small explosion to push the boy back.

"What the heck?!" Lisa looks on in confusion before turning towards her opponent, "What was that?!"

The doctor laughs, "Haha! You didn't think there'd be no consequences to giving wrong answers did you?" She then points at the ailing Levi, "Every wrong answer triggers a tiny explosion with will injure you!"

Lisa then helps her counterpart to his feet. "Are you all right?"

Levi nods, "Yeah, but we gotta get past this… somehow…"

And with that, the duo just stares at the random wall of numbers, hoping that the answer they so seek would appear soon enough.

* * *

"Poo-poo!" Leon shouts before creating a giant hammer to attack the counterpart with.

"Poo-poo!" Lily shouts in response, before creating a giant crayon and trying to color her opponent.

Yet, their counterpart creates a shield to protect herself, before using said protection and throwing it back at the duo, knocking them into the wall, "Poo-poo!"

Quickly, Leon helps Lily to her feet and the duo stares at their enemy once more.

"Poo-poo." Lily then grabs hold of her diaper… only for their counterpart to beat them to the punch by throwing her diaper at the duo first.

The babies then charge at each other, before swatting each other away with what random, oversized objects they can think of the fight with.

"Poo-poo." Leon tiredly goes, before he looks at his female counterpart.

Lily gives a knowing nod as well, "Poo-poo." And with that, they fly at their counterpart once more, causing a small explosion when they make contact. Yet this isn't enough to change anything, and instead causes a small cloud of smoke to fill the containment room.

* * *

"Linka, why are you doing this?!" 63 Rita shouts, "We're your family!"

"I have no family!" The young girl shouts, "All I want is to enter the perfect world and to never have to work again! To have the freedom that everyone else has!"

"So we'll give you it!" 63 Lynn Sr. counters, "We'll love you and treat you like the rest of the boys!"

"Don't you see dad?" She mutters, before putting on a sinister smile, "That's not what I want. I want freedom and your unwavering kindness for me." She raises her glowing hands and swings, "And since you'll just get in the way, I think it's a good idea to send you to another dimension!"

"That's enough!" C-137 Rita grabs the girl by the arm and sends her fist into the girl's gut, "You need to learn some respect for all the sacrifices these two have gone under to make sure you'd have everything you needed to have a comfortable life after the incident!"

Yet, the Linka copy doesn't relent, "You're getting in my way 'mom'." Her hands glow with dark energy for a moment, before sends a wave of darkness at the woman. Yet, C-137 Lynn Sr. tackling her away is more than enough to save her from the assault.

"Why are you doing any of this?! We loved you more than the others!" 63 Lynn Sr. shouts, as he gets back on his feet, "I made sure that the boys would treat you better than any princess that could ever live. I made sure that your room was the only one in the house to be completely soundproofed!"

63 Rita then adds on, "And I made sure that you'd enjoy your life and be ready to raise a family when you grew up!" She holds her hands over her heart, "What happened to the young daughter that wanted to be with her family?!"

"She's gone." The copy puts on a sadistic smile, "She's gone and burned off in the Sahara Desert by now, and I'm here keeping her memory of treachery going as the final main test before purgatory." She then rushes the parents, "And I'll make sure you pay for everything you did and didn't do!"

The parents look at each other for a moment, before breaking up.

The Linka clone simply responds by firing random beams of light in random directions, hoping to hit something important

* * *

"Heh, you punch hard." Ronnie Anne quips, before raising her fists to her counterpart once more, "All the more reason to kick your arse before I get too tired to care anymore." She then pushes him off, allowing more space to form between them.

"Easy for you to say!" Clyde shouts as he runs from his counterpart, "I don't even know how I'm supposed to hit my counterpart! Guys don't hit girls!" He then jumps over a nearby rock… only for the Claudia counterpart to rush around to confront him."

Cristina then cuts in, "Well, can you hit this boy for me Clyde?! I've never been in a fight before either!" She then rushes into their fight and grabs the boy. "I think I should take care you her!"

"Uhh…." Clyde nervously goes, before rushing at Cristopher, "I have such a bad feeling about this!" He raises her fists.

Cristopher responds by doing the same, and a few minutes later, they and the girls are engaged in a slap fight of all things.

* * *

"I'm sorry Lincoln, but…" The man looks away, before the dust finally settles. "You were too much of a liability to keep alive any longer…"

*Cough* *Cough* A voice goes, "Nice try William, but you're not gonna get rid of me that easily."

"What the?!" The man steps back in shock, "What's going on?!" He holds his head in frustration.

"Hey William." Linka chuckles while crossing her arms.

"Why are you not a speck of dust before me?!" He shouts in frustration, "You should be gone!"

Suddenly, the four guardians of the fragments appear in front of him; each of them sporting a look of frustration.

"Yeah, sorry William." The segment goes, "You kinda designed us not to be able to hurt you or your counterparts. You know, because you were worried that someone would steal them and try to use em against you."

"I mean, you can try to use it on her, but she is still your counterpart…" The filament goes, "So it won't work." She then holds her, "But hey, it doesn't matter."

The component shrugs, "I'd let it go, but meh, I really don't care. After all, I'm exhausted from the fact you've been using me to try and build that perfect world of yours for the equivalent of ten thousand times.!

"Are you flippin' kidding me?!" William shouts, "Why is it so hard to get rid of a single nuisance?!"

"Face it William, you're not getting rid of me that easily." Linka raises her Holo-Gear in defiance, "I challenge you!"

"Do you really believe that I would waste the infinite power of the Macguffin on such a trivial prospect?" William scoffs at the idea, "I will continue my plans no matter what. Challenge or no challenge."

"Uhh, yeah, William." The segment goes, "When the Guardians of Order and Chaos put us under their control, they added a feature."

The man raises an eyebrow in confusion, "What feature?"

"If you wanna keep control of us, you gotta defeat all challengers." The Filament chuckles, "So you kinda have to fight her or else you'll lose by default and we'll immediately transfer to her!"

" _Thanks fragment guardians."_ Linka thinks as she begins to tap her Holo-Gear's screen, "So do you accept my challenge?"

"You're going to challenge a man that has lived eons longer than you, and has seen countless trials and games played?" He crosses his arms, and stares at her with a judgmental gaze, "Now that doesn't seem smart at all huh?"

"If it's to save my home, then I have no choice." Linka stands before the man for a moment. She can feel both hope and determination rushing through her veins as the starry world around them begins to move faster, as if William's anger was beginning to effect the image of this perfect world."

"Then name your challenge." William orders, "I'll take whatever you throw at me and counter harder."

"I challenge you to a best two out of three." The girl immediately answers, "Three different games, as the challenger, we each pick one. The loser chooses the next challenge. And we each can add a twist to the challenge. Do you agree?"

"Very well." He speaks with a tick in his voice, "I'll accept your terms."

The girl nods, "Got it."

"As the challenger, you declare the first challenge." William continues.

" _Quick Linka think… there has to be…"_ Suddenly, an idea pops into the young girl's mind, "I'll start off with a race! Whoever reaches the finish line first wins!"

A sinister smile forms on the man's face, "Very well then. Then we shall race on the Dimensional Highway!" immediately, the man snaps his fingers, causing a massive track to come into view. Simply put, it's a long tube with clear glass holding enclosing the whole thing.

"Where's the finish line?" Linka raises an eyebrow.

"It is fifty miles away." The man responds, before he snaps his fingers one more causing his motorcycle to come into view.

Linka nods, "All right then, so what's your twist on this challenge?"

William rubs his chin for a moment, "I know! We'll have dogs chasing us, and if you lose too much speed, you'll get swallowed up and get a guaranteed loss!"

The girl nods, "All right. My twist is that along the route we have to grab newspapers. The person with more newspapers at the end has a chance at winning b a points system. Winner gets one hundred points and the loser gets fifty. Each paper gives an extra ten points."

"I shall accept these terms." The man declares, before mounting his bike. "Now choose your vehicle wisely."

Linka taps at her Holo-Gear for a moment, and quickly scrolls through the vehicles, _"Which to choose? I don't know any of these!"_ She keeps going for a moment, before a familiar one catches her eyes. _"It's just like Loki's."_ She smiles and taps away for a moment, allowing the vehicle to materialize before them. And without another word, she mounts the bike.

"Before we begin, I feel it is necessary to ask you once more, join me Linka." He snaps his fingers, causing monitors to appear, each decorated with one of her family members or friends fighting their counterparts, "You can end their suffering. From the looks of it, everyone you took with you is busy dealing with one of my dark hunters, my guardians of the perfect world."

"Yeah, I know." She holds her fists together tightly; "They stayed behind to give me just a chance to stop you from doing any of this."

"Very well then. It's your funeral." The man goes.

Linka then revs the throttle.

GLaDOS then declares, _**"Generating Action Field: Speed World NEO!"**_ Before the long tube gains a light blue hue and a counter pops up.

 **3… 2… 1… GO!**

20-8-5 5-14-4 9-19 23-8-5-18-5 23-5 2-5-7-9-14. 9-20-'19 23-8-5-18-5 2-18-15-11-5-14 8-5-1-18-20-19 13-5-14-4 1-14-4 19-20-1-18-20 20-15 2-5-1-20 1-7-1-9-14

15-4-25-19-19-5-21-19 19-8-1-12-12 6-1-3-5 20-8-5 6-9-14-1-12 3-8-1-12-12-5-14-7-5 20-15 7-5-20 8-9-19 8-15-13-5 2-1-3-11

 **A/N Everything's prepared for the final battle! All I gotta do is focus long enough to write the dang thing! I thank Wolvenstrom for some of the lines I used! Also, my mom is out of the hospital! I thank everyone who kept her in their thoughts!**

 **BTW, if I don't update Finding A Loud or Unwavering Bonds next Saturday, it's because I was working on this. The next chapter is really special to me.**

 **Credits: The songs used in the Luna/Luke scene are Skillet's "Rise" and Envoi's "Ghost".**


	35. The Path Of Destiny

**A/N I legitimately cannot believe I've gotten this far. 35 Chapters is more than I have ever written for any story, and 20,000 words means that this clocks in as the longest chapter I've ever written! I took extra time to go over and expand upon my ideas! I hope you guys enjoy the end of the "Legacy" Arc and the story! I thank you all for the 60,000 views to this story so far!**

 **Also, quick story: My glasses broke while I was halfway through the chapter! So I had to go digging for an old pair… which makes it hard to read.**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Linka vs. William for the fate of her multiverse.**_

Story Thirty-Five: The Path Of Destiny

In an instant, the two bikes screech against the soft pavement of the Dimensional Highway, before rushing down the road at top speed. For a moment, the two race neck-to-neck, with neither willing to give the lead to the other.

" _I can't let William win here. I just can't!"_ Linka holds her breath for a moment. She can feel the wind rushing through her long, white hair, while the adrenaline coursing through her veins causes her heart to beat faster, as if the organ is attempting to move as fast as the bike.

William, however, remains calm, as he casually keeps pace with the girl at his side, "Haha! This is already more amusing than I thought it would be!"

"Why's that?" The young girl goes, making sure not to take her eyes off the road ahead.

"Oh no reason." He smiles and glances out the clear tubing that surrounds the Dimensional Highway, "It's just, the universe is beautiful, isn't it?"

" _He's just trying to trick you Linka. He wants you to break focus so you slow down."_ She revs the throttle once more, _"I can't let him break me!"_

"Ahh, the stars." He easy keeps pace with the speeding girl, "There are so many out there… just imagine owning one of these, maybe even building a better life for humanity around one of them!" The man's voice fills with hope, "How does that idea sound, Lincoln? You know, building the perfect home there."

Linka grits her teeth in response, choosing to filter his voice out instead.

"A shame…"William goes, "I believe it would've been nice to have you as my queen, ruling over a beautiful world together." He glances at her, "Wouldn't it have been great Lincoln?"

"No, it wouldn't have."Linka immediately responds, "Don't try anymore, I'll never join you and your stupid plan."

William lets out a deep breath in disappointment, "A shame…"

And with that, the duo crosses the first mile marker, causing two bright red lines to appear on the Dimensional Highway ahead of them, as well as cause GLaDOS to declare, _**"One-mile mark has been crossed! Forfeiting is no longer allowed!"**_

" _Like I'd forfeit this."_ Linka revs her bike once more, yet William and her remain tied for the lead, _"I just gotta focus on getting passed him. And as soon as I keep the lead, I'll be able to win!"_

" _ **Generating wolf trap."**_ GLaDOS continues in her monotone and feminine voice, _**"Warning: if speed counters fall under four, combatant will be caught by trailing wolves and immediately given a loss."**_

"Understood." Linka goes, while William remains silent.

" _ **Generating proper attire, select from Holo-viewer menu."**_ GLaDOS continues, causing a familiar image to pop up from Linka's Holo-Viewer, while William simply chuckles and answers, "This attire will be fine for tis challenge." He tilts his head at Linka, "But you, my dear, can feel free to have an outfit change."

Linka nods, "Ok then. I accept the change!"

" _ **Input accepted."**_

Immediately, the Holo-Viewer emits a bright Light, engulfing Linka's body and bike. And when it dies down, she's wearing a mailwoman's uniform with the same mail hat with Pegasus wings she wore six months prior, as well as the same small mailbag with a grey Pegasus chasing an envelope. _"Heh, how fitting."_ Linka can't help but chuckle, before steeling her gaze.

"Heh well it looks like you're ready to deliver papers." William can't help but quip, "Just like that beautiful first day you appeared in dimension sixty-three."

" _He's just trying to get in your head."_ Linka immediately thinks.

"Wouldn't it have been great if you could stay with that family for-" He starts speaking with a hint of nostalgia in his tone.

Yet, Linka shouts, "Shut it William! The past is the past! GLaDOS, I'm ready, implement the next part!"

" _ **Very well, User: Linka Loud. Dispersing Newspapers!"**_ and with that, hundreds of orbs of light appear on the track. A moment passes, before the light dissipates, allowing their targets to finally become visible; each print floats in a small bubble-like sphere.

" _ **Speed Counters set!"**_ And with that two small screens appear above the motorcycles' on board computers, displaying the images of both William and Linka and the number five next to them. _**"Each paper picked up is equal to one extra speed counter. Combatants can use speed counters to fuel attacks and weapons. AI services are allowed, user requests?"**_

"I don't need an AI helping me." William glances at the girl, "You on the other hand, may need some support Lincoln."

"All right then, I accept." Linka goes.

" _ **Input accepted. Good luck contestants."**_ And with that, the Holo-Viewer screen glows with blue light, signaling that GLaDOS would be ready for input. _ **"Chat connected."**_

"Now that those formalities are out of the way." William smiles, and revs his engine; "I shall take the lead in this race." Immediately, his motorcycle boosts faster then the girl, causing his speed counter to rise by one.

"What the?" Linka's eyes go wide in shock, "GLaDOS, how was he able to do that?!"

" _ **Analyzing enemy vehicle…"**_ A moment of silence passes, _**"William's vehicle is a modified Tomahawk Superbike with a top speed of four hundred and twenty miles-per-hour base. Yours on the other hand is a modified Ninja Superbike, due to modifications, the top speed on yours is approximately three hundred and ninety mile-per-hour."**_

"Dangit." Linka grits her teeth, "That means I'm gonna have to start grabbing newspapers and boosting my speed counters."

" _ **Understood, moving to standby mode."**_ GLaDOS declares, before going silent once more.

Quickly, Linka revs her engine and boosts forward as quickly as she can, though that still isn't much when compared to William's lead.

"Oh, it looks like you're going to try to catch up with me, huh?" William chuckles, before sticking his arm out, bursting a nearby bubble and causing the paper to end up in his hand, which he immediately shoves in his trench coat, "Good luck catching up!"

Immediately, the counter updates. **William: 7, Lincoln: 5.**

" _No problem._ " Linka then leans to the side, allowing for an unclaimed paper to end up in her path. _"I just have to catch the one's he doesn't-"_

"No, no, no!" He taunts, before slowing down and cutting the girl off with, "I'm not letting you grab any of these!" The counter updates. **William: 8, Lincoln: 5.**

Linka grits her teeth in frustration, _"Dangit."_

"You should just surrender now!" William taunts, "At the rate you're going, you'll never catch up to me!" He then leans over and grabs yet another paper bubble, allowing William to gain another counter. **William: 9, Lincoln: 5.**

"A shame." William sighs, "After you got through my nine circles of torment, climbed the cliffs of purgatory and reached my paradise, I expected you to put up more of a fight." He allows his gaze to soften in disappointment. "A shame I must say."

Yet, the young girl doesn't back down, _"I won't give up. I just have to find a paper…"_ She quickly looks around the track ahead, allowing her gaze to fall upon an unclaimed paper. _"Gotcha… dangit."_ She looks at her Holo-Gear, "GLaDOS, is it possible to ride along the glass walls?"

" _ **Calculating… due to the offset center of gravity caused by the centrifugal force of the rotating tube, it will be possible to do so. However, due to the smooth surface, it will be difficult to achieve traction."**_ A small slideshow depicting what the A.I. is explaining appears on the screen.

" _Is there another choice?"_ Linka thinks, before William grabs and secures another paper. **William: 10, Lincoln: 5.** Allowing him to boost even further ahead of the young girl. _"I guess not."_

And with that, she takes a deep breath, and concentrates, before leaning over.

Her bike immediately makes a beeline for the paper bubble, _"Please work, please work…"_ And the moment the she crosses onto the glassy roof of the tube, her bike begins to swerve, forcing the young girl to lean back and forth to maintain control. _"Come on, come on!"_

Then, she closes her eyes and holds her arm out, hoping that she would be able to grab on.

And a short moment later, she opens her eyes once more, allowing her to notice a small, white paper held tightly in her left hand. A soft smile overcomes her as she whispers, "I did it."

"Oh? You've actually managed to catch one paper?" William chuckles, "Oh my, it looks like you're actually going to be putting up a fight!"

"Yeah, I'm not gonna give up that easily William!" Linka throws the collected paper in her bag, "We've just started, and I'm not gonna let you win that easily!" **William: 10, Lincoln: 6.**

A sinister smile overtakes the old man, "Heh, then I suppose I should stat taking your challenge seriously." He then grabs another paper and opens up a slot on his cycle, "I use two speed counters to activate Broadside Barrage!"

Immediately, a small blaster appears next to the man's motorcycle, "Let's see how you handle these, especially on that glass!" And with that, the weapon fires three fiery papers at the young girl.

" _Crud!"_ Linka immediately swerves to dodge the incoming ordinance… only for the third bullet to hit her front wheel, causing her to spin out of control, _"Dangit, dangit, dangit!"_ _**"Warning, speed counter lost!"**_ **William: 8, Lincoln: 5.**

Linka quickly regains her balance on the bike and boosts forward on the glass, before glancing back, noting the paper still in her bag. "What happened GLaDOS?!"

The A.I. Responds by answering, _**"This."**_ Then she replays the exact play William did to send her spinning out of control.

"I meant, what did he do to do that?!" Linka goes in annoyance, "You know, cause I'm trying to beat him ya know!"

" _ **He used speed counters to power a double volley. By getting hit by one of those, you lost one counter and were sent spinning out of control for a moment. However, due to the physics of this track, you were able to regain balance fairly quickly."**_

" _Well that explains the flaming newspapers."_ Linka immediately pushes the throttle, allowing her motorcycle to regain the speed it lost, _"If he's fighting with fire, then I'll just have to fight like that too!"_ Linka then sticks her arm out again and grabs another paper. **William: 8, Lincoln: 6.**

"GLaDOS, show me available attacks!" Linka commands, causing the screen in front of her to display five options. _"Two, four, six, eight and ten huh. Well then, let's see if I can do this."_

"Haha!" William laughs, before he grabs two more papers, "This is starting to get more interesting than I had expected!" Then with a quick glance, he boosts forward, **William: 10, Lincoln: 6.**

"Just cause you're in the lead doesn't mean I'm gonna give up." She holds her fist over her heart, "Because if I've learned anything about defeat, you don't lose until you give up!" She then boosts faster along the glass roof, allowing her to grab three more papers. **William: 10, Lincoln: 9.**

William throws his head back in laughter, "Man, you really are an interesting person to follow. It is a shame I'm gonna have to stop your advance." He grabs another paper, before turning and riding on the glass in front of the girl.

"Not today William!" The girl immediately banks right, allowing her to ride along the smooth pavement side of the tube.

"I use six speed counters!" William holds his hand out in front of him, "Oil Slick Road!" And with that, two pipes open up on the back of his bike, causing a brown liquid to seep out from behind, before the man backs right and begins to ride around the tube in a spiral form.

Linka doesn't hesitate to counter, "I use four speed counters! Smooth Drive Control!" And with that her motorcycle sprouts spikes from its wheels, allowing the girl to ride through the oil like it's nothing, as well as grab another newspaper. **Linka: 6, William: 4.**

William grits his teeth in frustration for a moment, "Grr. It looks like you're starting to finally making a comeback." He rides back onto the pavement, "But I am not gonna let you win!"

At this point, Linka trails behind the old man by only a few short feet, and is quickly closing the gap. "Yeah, well I'm not gonna lose here!"

They cross the halfway marker with that.

"I'm carrying on the wishes of my family and friends that stayed behind to give me this chance!" She then revs her bike once more, "And I'm not gonna let this go to waste!" And with that, she turns and drives on the slippery glass once more. Yet, this time, she easily regains her balance, and uses the chance to grab two more papers.

Not to be outdone, William boosts forward and grabs three. **Linka: 8, William: 7.**

At this point, the duo is neck-to-neck once more, with both taking the chance to grab as many papers as possible. Though, Linka drives along the glass, while William drives along the pavement.

A fire burns in the young girl's eyes as she continuously spins and swerves to grab her ordinance. **Linka: 15, William: 14.**

"I use four counters! Double Broadside Barrage!" William then pays his cost, sending six rounds at the young girl.

Linka immediately shouts, "I also pay four counters! Smooth Drive Control!" And her bike sprouts the same attachment as before, allowing her to out maneuver the ordinance… save for the last round, which hits her wheel.

"Dangit!" Linka shouts as she is sent spiraling out of control once more, all while GLaDOS shouts, _**"Warning: Speed Counter Lost!"**_ **William: 10, Linka 10.**

Quickly, the young girl turns her bike once more and glances behind her, allowing her to notice the horde of familiar wolves still chasing the duo. _"Close one. But still not enough to stop me!"_ Linka then drives above the man, "Heh, got anything else William? These attacks are nothing!"

William grits his teeth in frustration, "Grr, fine then!" He amulet glows with blue light, "Then enough playing games!" He then holds his breath for a moment, before speaking with a soft, yet solemn voice, "Polytope, led me the power to defeat my enemy!" And with that he shouts, "This is the power of the fifth fragment!"

"A fifth fragment?!" Linka shouts, her eyes going wide in shock.

"The true power source and guardianless of the Macguffin's parts!" The man then pushes his throttle once more, before boosting forward. Immediately, his bike glows with light purple light, "This is my burning soul!" He quickly grabs five papers, by boosting around the tube and stops just in front of the young girl, "This is the end for you. I pay eight Speed Counters! Go, Gravity Bombardment!"

And with that, two cannons appear at his bike's side with their sights set on his opponent, "It's been fun Linka, but this is goodbye!" And with that, he fires a volley of lasers at the girl, hoping to send her flying out of control.

Yet, a fierce determination burns in the young girl's chest, _"I will not lose here. I will not let my home die. I will not let them down."_ She pushes her throttle once more, "For my family, I'll never give up!"

"Lose before me!" William shouts in frustration.

They cross the thirty-five-mile mark with that.

Linka counters by bobbing and weaving away from the attacks. Each laser volley blasts a hole in the dimensional highway, and yet, neither combatant relents.

"Hold still!" William goes, before his motorcycle's computer flashes, "Target locked!" With a sinister smile forming on his face, he pulls the trigger, "Die!"

And with that, his weapon fires, engulfing the young girl in a plume of smoke.

"It's a shame it had to end like this Linka." William looks back at the cloud, "But that is the fate of those that dare oppose my perfect world."

"Not so fast William!" Linka shouts, before emerging from the cloud, relatively unharmed, "You can't beat me that easily!"

"What?! How?!" William looks on in shock.

"You've been so busy shooting at me, you didn't notice that I have been grabbing newspapers this whole time! Your attacks may do four damage each, but I'm able to power through your hits like it's nothing!" **Linka: 14, William: 7.**

They cross the forty-five mark with that.

"This… this can't be!" William shouts.

"Be anymore cliché will ya!" Linka then boosts in front of the man, "I pay ten speed counters! Stardust Driver!" And with that, one massive cannon appears above the girl, with energy flowing through the barrel for a moment. "This is for my family! Target locked! Fire!"

And with that, the cannon glows with blue light for a moment, before sending a bright white beam at the man. Instantly, he's engulf by the attack, causing his speed counters to hit zero, and his motorcycle to blow steam from overstressing.

 **Linka: 4, William: 0.**

"What, no!" William shouts as his motorcycle slows down, causing him to be engulfed by the countless wolves chasing them.

And a moment after that, Linka crosses the finish line, causing her image to appear above, with the word, "Winner" written under it.

"Hah, hah." Linka pants for a moment, before dismounting the bike, "I win." And with that, the hardlight path disappears, causing the duo to stand in William's paradise once more.

"Grr." William stands up in frustration, "It seems you have won round one Linka. But that is no problem." He then adjusts his top hat once more.

"Yeah? Are you ready to give up yet?" Linka stares with a fierce gaze, "And what's this about a fifth fragment?"

"Of course not. I choose the next challenge after all." A smile forms on his face. "As for the truth of the Macguffin, I have no reason to explain myself now, so why bring up the memory of my imprisonment?!"

"Fine then." Linka raises her fists, "Name your game! I can take whatever you throw at me!" She stares at him, "Even if it involves a fifth fragment."

"A simple maze is my decree." William speaks in a respectful tone, while holding his hand up, allowing. "Whomever crosses the finish line at the end shall win!"

Linka nods, "I'll accept this challenge."

"Then what is your twist?" William asks, "I have plenty of experience dealing with these puzzles, so you better be careful!"

"We both get portal guns and can phase our way through the walls and puzzles if necessary." Linka answers.

"Very well." William smiles, "And if we get portal guns, how about my twist is we both get gravity guns to boot!"

Linka nods in agreement, "All right then William, I'll accept it."

The man then snaps his fingers, "Splendid!"

And with that, they suddenly stand in the middle of an open field.

"Welcome to the enrichment center." William goes, "Boot up that hunting field and we shall begin!"

" _ **Generating Action Field: The Enrichment center"**_

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Hold still why don't ya!" The Linka copy shouts, before sending a volley of dark energy at the quartet of parents.

"Ahh!" 63 Lynn Sr. screams as he ducks behind an oversized rock, "This isn't good Rita!"

63 Rita follows by dropping behind another, "Ya think Lynn! A dark copy of our daughter is currently trying to blast our heads off!"

"You were the worst parents a girl could ever have!" The dark copy shouts, before sending another volley at them, causing the rock 63 Lynn Sr. is hiding behind to disappear, leaving a small crater in its wake.

The Linka copy then floats over to the cowering man, "This is for being the horrible father you were to me!" She sends out a small, black rope to wrap around the man, before holding him up, "You're the reason that I never had any real friends! Why the only boy I ever had any feelings for didn't know about me much! You-"

"Linka! Stop!" 63 Rita jumps from her cover and holds her arms out, "Don't treat your father like that!"

The girl glares at the woman, before turning to face her, "Well, well, Rita. Now's not the time to start trying to be the mother you never were!" She raises her father and pulls back for a moment, before launching the man at woman, sending them skidding across the cave floor, "That's for all the failure you had set me up for." She the slowly floats over to her parents, "You two deserve nothing but pain for what you did!"

"Hey!" A man shouts, before throwing a rock at the young girl.

"Hmm?" She turns to face the source. C-137 Lynn Sr. and Rita stand side-by-side, both sporting expressions of harsh command.

"Those two didn't set you up for failure!" C-137 Rita continues, "Yeah, when we talked, we thought they screwed you over too! But that doesn't warrant killing them for caring so much!"

The copy simply stares at the duo in contempt for a moment, before slowly floating over, "Oh, so you're trying to defend these two worthless meat sacks?"

"They're our counterparts." C-137 Lynn Sr. grabs another rock, "And since that's the case, I'm sure they did whatever they could to make sure that you'd be safe!"

"Now, of course…" C-137 Rita looks at the injured adults, "That doesn't excuse them for what they did, but don't act like you're not at fault here!"

"Oh really now?" She leans in, "You're defending those two?"

The C-137 parents look at each other for a moment and nod.

"Rita… Lynn…" The 63 parents painfully whisper, as they watch the C-137 duo continue by flinging the rock at the dark girl.

"Then you shall join them in their suffering." The girl coldly responds, before grabbing the secondary duo, and flinging them at the first.

* * *

"G'ahh!" The three counterparts shout as they're sent flying into the stage wall.

Nula simply chuckles at the sight, "Heh, there are three of you, and yet, you can't seem to even put a scratch on me!" She throws her head back in laughter, "I guess you three just suck at music!"

"Not yet." Luke immediately picks himself up, "We're not giving up that easily Nula!"

Luna then continues, "Yeah! We're gonna fight Across This New Divide!" She glances at her two counterparts for a moment, "You two with me!"

Nyla nods, "Course Luna, we're you after all!" Then, she raises her guitar one more, "Luke, start us off!"

Luke nods and starts strumming, with the two young women following his lead, "Death, surrounds, my heartbeat slowing down." He glances at the girls, the duo ready to start, "I won't take this world's abuse. I won't give up, I refuse! This is how it feels when you're bent and broken. This is how it feels when your dignity's stolen. When everything you love is leavin', you hold on to what you believe in." And with that, he sends a volley of waves at their opponent.

Nula laughs, "Man, you guys are starting to get creative!" She dodges the attacks for a quick moment, before jumping up and singing, "Test my reality, check if there's a weak spot, clingin' to insanity, hopes the world will ease up, trying make it look like it's all somehow getting' better, cause I know how to play it pretty good against the measure!" The young woman's guitar answers Luke's volley with it's own, blocking and sending more back at the trio.

Yet, not to be outdone, the two young women jump in front of Luke and sing, "The last thing I heard, was you whispering goodbye. And then I heard flat line!" Then together, the trio sings, "No! Not gonna die tonight, we've gotta stand and fight forever! Don't close your eyes! No! We've gotta fight for us together! We're not gonna die tonight!"

And with that, the trio counters Nula's attack.

The counterpart scoffs for a moment, "Haha! I seem to have underestimated you three! Maybe you really are worthy of my full power."

"Full power?!" Nyla's eyes go wide in shock, "You've been holding back this whole time."

"Yep, guilty as charged!" Nula then pulls out a small amp, "Let's kick this up to eleven!" And with that, she strums, sending a massive shockwave at the three, forcing them back into the wall once more, as well as causing them to land on the floor, battered and bruised.

* * *

"This is more frustrating then it needs to be!" Ronnie Anne shouts, as she pushes her male counterpart away, "Like seriously, come on! Why does this have to be so difficult?!" She quickly throws a punch, only for the counterpart to catch the attack and force her back as well.

"Yeah, I know right, but you're seriously annoying to beat, like why won't you give up?!" The counterpart the rushes at the girl and forces her off her feet and onto his back.

Ronnie Anne grits her teeth and hits the boy's back, but to no avail.

"Now, time to put you down!" And with that, he throws her against the cave entrance, causing her to fall to the ground in pain, "And stay down!"

"Not… yet…" Ronnie Anne forces herself to her feet in defiance, "I can do this all day!"

The young boy throws his head back in laughter, "Oh? It seems your love for that Lame-O is still holding strong!"

Ronnie Anne stares at the boy, "Yeah, and his love for us is still burning." She raises her fists. More adrenaline forces its way through the girl's body, "Now are you gonna come at me or what?"

Ron Andy chuckles, "Sure, I'll humor your suicidal nature right now!" And with that, he throws a punch.

Quickly, the Hispanic girl attempts to catch the attack and counter, only for the boy to blindside her by throwing a kick to her side, before promptly roundhouse kicking her face, forcing her to spit out some blood.

"You aren't even worthy of defeating me. Let alone entering the perfect world that William has created for your kind." The boy looms over the girl for a moment, before throwing his foot into her abdomen, causing her to clutch her body close in pain.

"Ronnie Anne!" Cristina goes as she frantically runs from the Claudia copy. "Are you ok?!"

Her friend remains silent, unable to respond due to the pain.

"No!" Cristina then banks right in an attempt to help her… only for Claudia to jump in her way.

"Sorry Cristina, but you're not goin' anywhere!" The dark-skinned girl proceeds to send a fist into the girl's cheek, causing her to stumble back in pain.

"Oof!" She goes as she falls onto the nearby wall, "This isn't looking too good!"

"You're telling me!" Clyde shouts as he runs from the Cristopher counterpart, "I've never been in a fight before!"

Cristopher then jumps in front of him, "Well congrats kid, welcome to your first." And with that, the boy sends his foot into Clyde's crotch, causing the dark-skinned boy to fall to the floor in pain, "Man you're easy to beat!"

"This can't be any worse…" Ronnie Anne whispers.

* * *

"This isn't looking too good Leni!" Loni cries as his nimble hands work through the layers upon layers of fabrics as quickly as quickly as they can, with needles and threads combining and cutting them off in a whirlwind of confusion.

"Like, I know! This is starting to hurt… a lot!" Leni counters, before the duo glances at the loose threads slowly dancing their way up the duo's bodies. At this point, the threads had reached their stomachs and would soon cover their chests.

"Man you two are slow!" Neli throws her head back in laughter before she finishes the main outline of the dress and begins to add the decorative fabrics, "I mean, I'm already done with two parts of this dress and you've barely gotten to the end of the first step!"

Loni and Leni look at each other for a moment, before Loni goes, "Like, Leni, do you know how we could speed this up?!"

"Maybe we could, like, try to work on the same thing at the same time!" Leni suggests, her voice filling with a frantic fear.

"That's what we've been doing!" Loni counters, flaring his arms up as he does so, "it's not working at all!"

"How about we divide the work forty-forty? I mean, since working together isn't helping, maybe…"

Yet, before she can finish, the threads envelop her mouth.

"No! Leni!" Loni grabs at the threads covering her mouth, only for more threads to grab on his arm, "Hey! Let go of me!" He desperately shouts, while Leni tries to pull at their bindings.

"Man, too slow and too weak! This must be my lucky day!" Neli then places her dress on her table once more and stretches it out. "At the rate I'm goin' at, you've got like… twenty minutes before I finish my perfect dress and send you away to become dresses yourself!"

"What are you talking about?!" Loni shouts, as his second arm is enveloped by yet another thread.

Their counterpart puts on a sinister smile as she answers, "Simple my dear Leni's, if you lose here, we'll just take your bodies and turn you into dresses!" She points at the nearby tapestries, each depicting a person, though none are recognizable to the duo, "And you'll get to join them, cupcakes style!"

"This is totally crazy!" Loni shouts, while Leni gives muffled shouts in agreement.

"Hey, you agreed to the terms in order to let everyone else run off." Neli shakes her head; "You've only got yourselves to blame."

And with that, Loni and Leni look at each other in fear, before more threads engulf their bodies, covering them from head to toe in a thick layer of fabric.

* * *

"Go Master Peace! Destroy Rise Falcon!" Nala shouts before pointing at the robot bird.

"Got any tricks up your sleeve Leif?!" Lana desperately asks as the dragon warrior brings his sword down upon the bird, slicing it clean in half.

Leif looks back at his counterpart, "Hold on Lana!" And with that, Rise falcon explodes, sending the two reeling as the twins' counter falls to 5150.

"Leif!" Lexx shouts as he watches his brother's motorbike spin wildly.

"Lana!" Lola adds, "Do what you do best!"

Lana shouts, "I'll try!" Immediately, the young plumber turns around and begins to tinker with the back of the vehicle. A moment of uncontrolled spinning goes on, before Leif is finally able to regain control. This time with a smoother ride than before.

"Whoa, what'd you do?" Leif looks at the girl holding onto his back.

"I Just modified the controls just a bit so they'd work better." Lana waves him off, "No biggie."

"Well that's a nice sentiment!" Alol shouts, before pointing at the, now defenseless boy, "But you're still defenseless! Now True King of all Calamities! Attack his life points directly!"

And with that, the twins' counter drops to 2150, though this time, neither bike spirals out of control.

"That all you've got?" Leif taunts, before holding his arm out and declaring, "I play Rank-Up-Magic Doom Double Force!" And with that, Rise Falcon returns to the field, before glowing with purple light and reentering the overlay vortex, "Dauntless Falcon, Ignite the Flames of Rage and engulf the Earth in your light! Go rank-up Xyz Evolution! Descend, Rank eight, Raidraptor Satellite Cannon Falcon!" And with that, the evolved metal bird descends.

The twin counterparts simply throw their heads back in laughter, "Haha! You think we're done with you that easy?"

Alol then raises a card, "I use the effect of True King of all Calamities! This allows me change the type of all monsters on the field to Water!" Immediately the monster glows, engulfing the two monsters in blue light, before they both explode.

"Raikiri!" Lexx shouts in fear, before looking at the duo in front of them, "What's going on?"

Alol immediately answers, "Simple, by The True King of all Calamities lets me destroy your monsters to summon my own!" And with that a massive, blue sea monster emerges, "I summon True King Bahrastos, the Fathomer! And upon its summon, two of your spells and traps are banished!"

The twins look on in frustration as their once full fields are reduced down to a total of two cards, one spell and trap on each.

"This is going horribly you two!" Lola complains, "Why did I agree to come along with you all?!"

Lana crosses her arms, "I don't know miss, 'I'm too pretty to fight'."

The female twins stare daggers at each other for a moment, before Leif shouts, "Guys, this really isn't the time." He looks at Lexx, "You remember how to take these guys on?"

Lexx shakes his head, "No… I've never seen these guys before."

Leif looks at the three beasts, "Well… no matter what happens, we gotta find a way to win!"

His twin nods, "Yeah… but this really isn't looking too good!"

* * *

"We are not kissing!" Loki flares his arms up for emphasis; "We're counterparts and have partners already!"

Roli shakes her head in disappointment, "Really? Well then, I guess I might as well just run you over with the wind then!" She then punches the air, causing a gust of wind to force Loki and Lori together, "Do as I say and entertain me, or I'll just force you to do as I say with the winds of lust!"

Lori stands up, "This is literally one of the most frustrating things I have ever done!" She then runs at the counterpart with an expression filled with determination… only for Roli to laugh.

"Man, you're really desperate huh? I never thought I'd see a Lori Loud wanting to win so badly that she'd run head-first into my attacks!" And with that, she throws another punch, causing Lori to be sent flying back, right into Loki's waiting arms.

"Lori, attacking from the front isn't gonna work." The boy glances at the girl in front of them, "We have to deceive her in a way, in order to get her guard down."

"And how do you expect to do that?" The boy drops her, allowing the young woman to get back on her feet.

Loki smiles, "Simple." He pulls out his rifle once more, and fires.

"Yawn." Roli waves in front of her mouth before using her winds to slow the bullet down, "Attack me with something more interesting why don't ya?"

Only for a fist to make contact with her face, "That's for trying to get me to kiss another girl!" Loki shouts with a smile.

Roli quickly hops to her feet and wipes the drool on her cheek, "Haha, well it looks like you've still got plenty of fight left in ya!" She braces herself for a moment, before running at the duo, "Let's see if this can finally entertain me!" And with that, she sends a barrage of windblasts at them, forcing the two to break away.

"Great job Loki!" Lori flares her arms; "All you did was make her mad!"

"Sometimes a mad opponent is better than a happy one!" HE aims his rifle and fires again, "Anger clouds the mind and causes even the most rational of people to make stupid mistakes!"

Their counterpart proceeds to use her wind attacks to not only stop the bullet once more, but also create a fist of wind and crush the rock Loki is hiding behind.

Immediately, the boy jumps to his feet and runs for another covering rock… only for Roli to continue destroying possible covering places.

With nowhere left to run, the young man runs into the young woman, "Uhh, yeah, this doesn't look good.

"Maybe a splat on the stones will look good!" Roli raises and fist of winds and prepares to bring it down.

* * *

"Uhh… ok, we've managed to take the integral of this… but the equation changed once more so it's wrong uhh…" Lisa nervously stammers along while attempting to find a pattern to the numbers changing right before her very eyes.

"This isn't working Lisa!" Levi shouts, as he scrawls down random numbers in an attempt to guess and check the possible results… only to create small explosions each time he tries, leaving his half of the chalk board covered in little craters.

Dr. Sila shakes her head, "What a shame. You two attempt to enter the perfect world and yet you two are unable to solve such a basic equation." She then fills in more numbers, "You two really are of too average intelligence."

Levi and Lisa turn to their counterpart, before the young girl goes, "I have no time for your asinine games! What is the trick to solve this puzzle?"

"Simple my dear. You of all people should know that nature is filled with countless patterns." The counterpart's voice fills with a hint of sarcasm, "If you were of above average intelligence you would be able to answer this faster than I could!"

"Leave her Lisa." Levi goes, "She's not gonna help us cause we're supposed to be smart enough to do it ourselves!" He then writes in a small number… resulting in an equally small explosion sending him back just a few feet, "But I must admit, this isn't working out."

"There must be a way to predict the answers we will need to input to answer these changing equations!" Lisa helps the young boy to his feet.

"Well, there's only one way to find out then, we'll have to just keep writing in numbers and hope that something will pop up!" Levi smacks his hands together, signaling that this was the only idea he had ready.

"Are you sure about this Levi?" Lisa raises an eyebrow in suspicion. "There is most definitely a better solution than just trying and almost getting our limbs blown off by a being from another reality."

The boy shakes his head, "Our only other option is to simply watch the board and hope for the best. But…" He motions towards Dr. Sila, their counterpart going along the board like she was born to answer these equations… though she probably was for that matter.

Lisa sighs in defeat, "Very well, we most go do it then. If we can find something that fits and halts the progression of the changing equations, then we'll definitely be prepared to defeat this girl at her own game.

The duo nods at each other once more, before both turning back to face the board. With a deep breath, they begin filling in numbers… only for one massive explosion to send them sliding back.

"That didn't work…" Lisa quips, her glasses lens now thoroughly cracked.

"We can't give up yet though…" Levi tries to force himself to his feet, "Linka is counting…" Yet, he can't keep it up and falls to the floor.

* * *

"There's just too many of them!" Aeif shouts as he spins around, using his twin blades to slice through the pack of wolves slowly swarming his position, "I need some help here ya guys!"

"I'd love to give it!" Nell goes, before creating a dance tornado to swallow up several lions at once, "But like, just because I'm able to make wind tornadoes with the new program I downloaded, doesn't mean I'll be able to deal with all of these cats at once!"

Alex then proceeds to blast through several of the wolves in a desperate attempt to aid his partner, "Well this isn't looking too good." He quickly glances around, "There aren't any trees left!"

"No duh!" Lyle shouts, "No tree can withstand three packs of animals pushing at their trunks for long!" Lyle then holds up her shield to block an incoming attack, before using her hardlight sword to slice through more, though their ability to replicate simply makes her efforts for naught.

Aeif then jumps onto one of the wolves, before stabbing it in the head, "Well, is there any way to beat it before we become at food?!"

Lyle the boosts herself up for a moment, before spinning around, carving a small circle in the crowd of animals, "Nope! I usually know what I'm doing, but here, I'm stuck!"

"Like, why don't we call in some backup?!" Nell jumps out of the gathering crowd and charges at some of the beasts, skewering them with yet another hardlight blade.

"Because William's stupid chaos plan made sure that every hunter is too busy trying to prevent dimensional collapse to come here and help us stop the source's plan!" Alex jumps up and sends a barrage of hardlight bullets at their attackers… though only a few even manage to hit, and those that do simply seem to make the dark beast hordes even angrier.

Aeif then shouts, "On days like this, I regret joining the AEU!"

Though, Alex can't help but counter, "Well, it was either join the AEU or try to live in a dead dimension!" Alex fires more rounds, hoping that one would eventually break them, though this proves to be a fruitless endeavor.

Within moments, the crowd of animals just proves to be too much for twins, and they're overwhelmed.

"Aeif, Alex!" Lyle shouts, before turning in and trying to fly over… only for her arm to get caught in a Lion's mouth. "Hey, get off of me!" She then tries to use her shield arm to break free of her restraint… only for another lion to come over and stop her.

"Like, I'll help ya Lyle!" Nell rushes the crowd of lions with that… only for the crowd of tigers and the crowd of lions to swarm her, covering her in a large crowd of fur and death.

" _This really isn't going too well!"_

* * *

"And then I said to the reporter, you've got plenty to… sale!" Luan throws her head back in laughter, before holding her arms out and asking, "Get it?"

A moment of silence passes for the audience, before a man shouts, "Boo! You suck!" Followed by a crowd of tomatoes flying her way.

"Welp, I better make like a potato and peel!" Luan shouts, before turning and bolting for stage right.

Lucy and Lars then run up on stage left, with both of them holding small scraps of paper.

"This is what we call, space." Lars introduces, before Lucy starts with, "Space, the final frontier."

Lars then speaks up, "There is not much to be told here. It is dark, and lifeless."

"And yet, the stars seem to speak of their pain and loneliness…" Lucy finishes, before the duo puts their papers off to the side, eagerly awaiting their audience's response.

A moment passes and… nothing. The audience remains stoic, neither answering the poem with tears or hate.

"I think we have failed once more." Lucy goes in disappointment, though her monotone voice doesn't allow that thought to come out as harsh.

"Sigh, just like our lives." Lars goes, before the duo turns and walks off stage right once more.

And with that, Lane swings on stage left with, "Ladies and Gentlemen! Presenting my next trapeze act, involving my good friend Performage Trapeze Magician!" He uses the jolly sorcerer to jump up and swing in the air for a moment, before landing center stage, "Ta-da!"

"Yawn! That as boring! We've seen you do that trick like a hundred times before!" The same man shouts, before someone decides to throw tomatoes at him as well.

"Welp this isn't looking any good!" The boy turns to his friend, "Come on Trapeze Magician! We don't wanna get, tomatoed!" And with that, the duo exits stage right as well, and joins up with the rest of their group.

"This really isn't looking good you guys." Lucy goes, fear filling her typically quiet voice.

"Yeah, usually my trapeze act blows them out of the roof!" Lane flares his arms for emphasis, before he turns to Trapeze Magician, "Right buddy?"

The sorcerer nods.

"Well I don't know what other funny stuff I can do!" Luan shakes her head and begins to tear up, "I'm pulling out my best comedy and no one's laughing at it!" she motions towards her tomato-stained dress, "I have enough tomatoes here to make pasta now!"

"Well there has to be something we can do…" Lars turns to look at the stage, Culy and Auln now stand center stage, and despite the fact that they can't here what the duo is doing up there, they can here the thunderous applause the crowd is leveling off for them.

"I'm worried that these guys are rigged so they can't enjoy what we do…" lane rubs the back of his head, "It's the only way."

"Well if that's the case, then we're gonna have to break the spell on them." Lucy responds, before the quartet turns back to their opponents.

* * *

The two Lynn's and their counterpart, Nyln stand across from each other on an open field, with all three sporting looks of determination.

"So, we're gonna be playing a simple game of soccer huh?" Male Lynn stares at his counterpart.

Nyln nods, "Yep, all you've gotta do is get five points and you win." She shakes her head and smiles, "No if, ands or buts! And if you win, I'll let you move on, all right?"

Female Lynn puts on a proud smile, "This is gonna be a piece of cake Lynn. This is one of my favorite games of all time!" She then braces herself to run, "I'm ready!"

Male Lynn nods and follows female Lynn's lead, "I'm all ready too! Throw out the ball!"

Nyln snaps her fingers with that, causing a small ball to appear in the center of the field. "Then here we go!" And with that, the trio rushes for it.

Immediately, Nyln slides into the ball, forcing it from its spawn point, and she easily ducks under her two counterparts.

"What the?!" Female Lynn's eyes go wide in shock, as she quickly plants her feet and chases after the counterpart.

Male Lynn, on the other hand, quickly jumps into action and tries to intercept the girl… only the Nyln to easily tackle him out of the way and make the first goal.

"What the heck is going on here?!" Female Lynn shouts as the score counter appears and displays: **0-1 Home.**

Male Lynn braces himself once more, "I don't know. All I do know is that I just got thrown out of the way like I was some sorta rag doll or something!"

"It's probably because you do ballet." The girl goes, "You're not very strong in your body, making it easy for her to knock you around like you're nothing." She chuckles, "It's the exact same strategy I use when fighting some weaklings."

"So how do you counter it?" The boy asks, while raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Simple… I don't know." The girl shakes her head, "On the field, you gotta run off instinct. Sometimes, you just don't know how to deal with something until it happens… and well, this is one of those times"

The boy grits his teeth in annoyance with that, "Well then, if we're gonna beat her, then we're gonna need to find a way, and soon!"

"Yawn." Nyln goes, before closing her eyes and scratching her back, "You two done yet?" It's getting boring just watching you talk to each other while trying to find a way to beat me."

The two Lynn's then look at each other once more, "Well, do you have any bright ideas?" The boy asks.

The girl shakes her head in response, "It's all I've got it, play and hope for the best."

"I hate that plan, but it's all that we've got." Male Lynn takes a deep breath, "Here we go!"

And with that, the duo charges their counterpart once more.

* * *

"Poo-poo!" Leon shouts as he is flung into the wall by Ylil's oversized hammer.

Lily then flies on to help her newfound friend, spouting random baby gibberish as she does so, "Poo-poo! Poo-poo-poo!" Followed by her conjuring up a small lollipop and using it to swat away her counterpart.

"Grr! Poo-poo!" Ylil shouts in response, before repeating the same cycle, this time using fish as a weapon rather than the same hammer from before.

And with that, they keep going on back and forth, with no one getting the upper hand.

 _ **Back with Linka…**_

Soon, the Holo-Gear begins to build the Action Field.

Immediately, the cloudy ground of William's Paradise is replaced by the dull grey-black of a testing lab, while walls made of a pure while material rise up, encasing the duo. Finally, two glass chambers with a single white panel on them descend from the now completely dark ceiling, trapping the duo.

Linka simply looks on, a fierce determination flowing through her veins.

" _ **Action Field Generated! Generating Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator and Aperture Science Hand-Held Portal Generator."**_ GLaDOS goes, before two gun-like devices appear on William and Linka's backs.

"Like the place?" William nonchalantly asks, "This is the perfect arena on which you shall learn just how weak and stupid you truly are."

Linka waves him off, "Whatever. Any other rules for this challenge?"

"Oh yes." He smiles, before motioning towards Linka's Holo-Gear, "GLaDOS isn't your friend here."

" _ **Warning… A.I. entering control mode. Enrichment Center is now being operated by the Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System."**_

"Wait, what?!" Linka's eyes go wide in shock, "What do you mean?!"

"This is a maze of course, and it wouldn't be fair for you to have help from an AI based off the game that we're playing right now, now would it?" The man throws his head back in laughter.

" _Well fine then, I can deal with this."_ Linka immediately pulls out the gravity gun, "Fine then, I can go without her."

" _ **Test subjects, are you ready to begin?"**_ GLaDOS asks in a rather eager voice.

Linka nods, "Yeah, I'm ready."

While William finishes, "As am I."

" **Very well then. The portal will open in 3… 2… 1…"** And with that, a bright orange gate opens up in the white panel, allowing Linka to rush out, with William doing the same in his chamber.

Immediately, the duo stands in identical testing chambers, with a simple puzzle sitting in both. An oversized button with a connection leading to the exit door stands before them, with a small cube sitting in an enclosed room with nothing, but a set of white panels above it.

Linka takes a quick glance at the puzzle and smiles, _"This'll be easy."_

" _ **Please place the Weighted Storage Cube of the Fifteen Hundred Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy-Duty Super Colliding Super Button."**_ GLaDOS commands.

Within seconds, Linka aims her portal gun, and fires two bursts of light. First orange, then blue, causing a set of portals to open up right in front of her, bringing the cube into view, _"Perfect."_ Then, she immediately swaps to her Gravity Gun and pulls the Cube through.

William does the same, and holds the cube up in triumph, "It seems we're evenly matched here Linka." He chuckles, before placing the cube on the button, revealing a small elevator leading to the next room. "See ya!"

Linka grits her teeth, _"I can't let him get ahead of me!"_ She quickly hits the Gravity Gun's second trigger…causing the weapon to fire the cube, as well as sending the girl flying back into the nearby wall, *Groan* She goes as she pulls herself off the floor, _"Note to self, don't hit that button."_ And with that, she grabs the cube again and moves it over to the switch.

" _ **Excellent!"**_ GLaDOS goes in a cheerful, yet monotone voice, _**"Please move to the chamber lock, as prolonged exposure to the button is not part of the test."**_

And with that, Linka quickly runs into the exit elevator.

" _ **Congratulations. You have successfully completed the competency-training segment of the Computer-Aided Enrichment Center."**_ The two elevators stop for a moment, _**"From now on, you must make your way through the maze of puzzles I have set before you. And the winner shall get cake. Good luck my little test subjects.**_ "

And with that, GLaDOS goes silent, while the elevator doors open up.

" _I can't lose!"_ Adrenaline streams through her veins as Linka bolts from the transport, and into a small room with a rather simple puzzle inside. A simple laser emanates from its emitter with a cube made entirely of glass floating on the other side.

" _And the receiver…"_ Linka quickly eyeballs her surroundings, noting the small black square resting in the corner. Wordlessly, she pulls out her gravity gun and pulls in the cube, before flipping over and plopping it right in front of the laser, redirecting it towards a white section of wall.

Then, with a quick swap to the portal gun, she opens the gates and allows the laser to hit the receiver, causing a small, moving platform to scroll across the floor for a moment. _"This is good, I gotta keep moving."_

The transport proceeds to carry the young girl into a small hallway lined with white panels, before turning and moving towards a blocked wall, with only a button next to it.

Quickly, she jumps off and hits the button, causing the section of wall to move out of the way, _"Too easy."_ She smiles. Yet, before she can hop back on, the wall closes back up. _"Of course."_ She quickly hits the button again, allowing the other end of the hallway to come into view. It too is covered in white panels.

" _This'll work."_ She quickly aims and fires another set of portals and lands back on the platform as it passes through the wall.

" _ **Congratulations, Test Subject: Linka Loud."**_ GLaDOS goes. _**"You shall now be baked."**_

"Huh, well that was easy." Linka quips, as the platform turns and starts moving down a corridor with the image of a cake plastered on it, "I guess this was as simple as I thought it'd be.

Then the platform turns once more.

And upon seeing her destination, her smile turns into a frown, "Welp, I couldn't say I saw this coming." She pulls out her portal gun, "I fiery pit of death, oh GLaDOS, you shouldn't have." She steels her nerves and quickly looks around, "There!"

And with that, she fires two more bursts and hops through, allowing her to land on a steel platform overlooking the pit, "Can't get me that easily!"

"Yes! But currently you're far behind!" William shouts, while Linka watches him jump through a nearby set of portals and lands on yet another platform overlooking the first. "Good luck, you'll need it!" And with that, the man turns and sprints out of sight.

" _Dangit."_ Linka looks up and fires, opening an orange portal above her, and a blue one right in front of her, "If William could do it, so could I!" And with that, she jumps through and lands hard upon the second platform.

Yet, she doesn't stop.

Instead, she hops to her feet and bolts down the same hallway.

" _ **My, my Miss Loud, you seem to be quite the ball of energy. Though, I suppose I should use this chance to finally get you back for using me as you have."**_ GLaDOS goes, _**"Here, enjoy my pistons!"**_

Immediately, a set of panels moves out of the way, allowing for huge metal cylinders to rush in, almost crushing the girl, "Dangit GLaDOS! This really isn't the time!"

" _ **On the contrary Linka Loud, I believe that I have been given the perfect opportunity to show you how it feels being a sentient A.I. forced to work for some homesick girl."**_

"Whatever!" Linka aims the portal device and fires two more bursts, allowing her to get by with relative ease.

" _ **However, I am fair to all of my test subjects. Why don't you enjoy some crushing pipes too, William Cryptos."**_

And immediately, the hallway in front of the man parts ways, before ten oversized pipes descend trying to crush the man.

"Heh, this is nothing." He chuckles as he swaps to his gravity gun, "This can stop an ICBM on re-entry, and your pipes will do nothing to stop it!"

" _ **Very well then.**_ " GLaDOS goes in dejection as the man rushes through he next death trap.

Linka desperately tries to follow close behind, only for another set of panels to give way from right under her feet, causing her to fall into a room with four doors.

" _ **Choose wisely Miss Loud. It would be a shame if you couldn't even make it to the end of this challenge, let alone the end of my enrichment center."**_

She quickly looks around, _"Well, I'll choose-"_

" _ **You know what? This isn't exciting enough of a test. Open all four!"**_

" _Dangit GLaDOS!"_ Linka immediately thinks, before shouting, "If I survive this, I'm gonna tell Levi to turn you into scraps!"

"Hello." A feminine voice greets, before four white-shelled, turrets appear in the doorways. It only takes a short moment for the four to aim their lasers at the girl, "Target locked."

Immediately, Linka bolts for a nearby wall… but not before one of the turrets manages to get a round off on her, hitting her leg. "G'ahh!"

" _ **Aperture Science Brand Sentry Turrets fire the entire bullet. That means sixty-five percent more bullet per bullet!"**_ A masculine voice goes.

"Welp, I guess I that explains why I'm only bruised." Linka quips before quickly looking around, _"I gotta take out those stupid turrets or else I'll never escape this stupid place!"_ She rubs her chin, "How did you beat these things in Portal? Oh right!" She snaps her fingers and pulls out the gravity gun.

In an instant, she rolls in front of one of the sentries and grabs it with the gravity gun, before immediately turning around and charging at the second, using the first as a shield.

"Hey guys, it's me!" it desperately shouts as Linka smacks its comrade, knocking it over and disabling it. The girl then turns around and does the same to the other two, before dropping it.

"Let's go." She quickly swaps back to her portal gun, and fires once more, allowing her to step through and land on yet another moving piston, as well as stand right above her opponent, "Hey William! Look who's ahead now?!" She then aims up and fires once more.

"Grr. Fine then!" William aims up as well and fires, causing the duo to end up on opposing moving pistons.

Linka stares at the man once more, "You're not gonna beat me this easily!" She quickly turns and runs down a nearby hallway, with William aiming up and firing, "Neither you with me!"

William then stands upon the clear grate he had fired through for a moment, but an open pathway catches his eye, causing him to rush through it.

" _ **It seems I have yet to test you as hard, Mister William."**_ GLaDOS quips _ **, "I know, I'll pull a page out of Wheatley's book and give you a way out."**_ And with that, William stops, expecting GLaDOS' trap.

The room around him rearranges itself, before eight pipes emerge from the ceiling.

" _ **The difference between him and I is that I made sure that I wouldn't be funneling Aperture Science Brand Defective Sentry Turrets through.**_ " And with that, a lone cube falls through the first pipe, before seven sentries fall through the remaining. "Target locked!"

"This is quite the turn of events." The man ducks and rolls over to the cube and picks it up with his Gravity Gun, before promptly charging at the attacking guards, easily knocking them over and disabling them.

" _ **Well I suppose you had an easy time then."**_ GLaDOS goes, before opening the door out of the room. _**"Good luck."**_

William stares at the exit for a short moment, before smiling, "What kind of idiot do you take me for, GLaDOS?" He quickly swaps to his portal gun, runs over to an open portal and fires, "See ya."

" _ **Dangit, I thought my second trick would work on him. Sigh, oh well."**_ GLaDOS chuckles, _**"They're both nearing the end of my maze, and soon, one of them will learn the true meaning of defeat.**_ _"_

Linka quickly ducks under a table, before jumping through an opening in the wall, allowing her to hop on a moving piston, before being pushed up to a simply straight hallway with a door at the end.

" _This is too easy after what I've seen."_ Linka stares at the ending.

" _ **What's wrong?"**_

"What's the trick?" Linka immediately asks.

GLaDOS takes a moment to think, _**"Well… there wasn't a trick before, but I guess I could put one in."**_ Immediately, the two walls part ways, allowing two massive mashers to slowly close in on the room.

With her heart racing in fear, Linka bolts for the ending and eventually manages to roll under the incoming plates… though not before the ends of her hair gets caught, forcing to tear the ends off.

And with that, she stands in an open room, with nothing but the exit elevator in her way. "I've had enough of this!" She sprints for the exit, "I'm not gonna take any of this anymore! I'm gonna save my family!"

"Not so fast!" William shouts, before he fires his portals, allowing him to jump in front of the girl, "I'm not letting you get away that easily!"

Linka looks up at the old man for a moment, "Well I'm not letting you get in my way!" She quickly sidesteps the man.

Yet, not to be outdone, William pulls out his Gravity Gun and grabs the girl with it, "Like I said, you can't escape to victory that easily!" HE then turns and launches Linka across the room.

" _Think fast Linka!"_ The girl quickly looks around, noting just where she is flying off to, before pulling out her portal gun, and firing two bursts, allowing her fly through a gate and stomp on the man's head.

"Grr. What do you take me for, a goomba?!" William tosses his, now ruined, top hat aside and fires a burst of light at the young girl.

"You might as well be!" Linka taught, side stepping the assault, before making a break or the exit once more.

" _ **Ooo, this is very interesting!"**_ GLaDOS quips, before continuing, _**"Implementing weapon dispensing functions.**_ And with that, several tubes emerge from the dome's walls.

"Haha! Thanks GLaDOS!" William rolls over to dispenser and grabs a Rocket Turret off the wall." He quickly aims his ordinance, and fires.

Linka immediately rolls out of the way, choosing instead to grab a regular sentry turret off the wall. "Deploying."

And with that, the white robot starts sending a barrage of bullets at the nearly defenseless man.

However, William responds by grabbing a storage cube from the wall and dropping it in front of him. Then, he grabs a laser emitter and charges it up.

The girl drops the robot, which the beam quickly destroys, before charging at the man.

"My, my, you are quite the suicidal type now aren't you." William smiles, before grabbing his rocket turret and firing once more.

Linka grabs her own storage cube, though this one has hearts on it rather than the Aperture logo, to block, "I'm not! I just wanna go as far as I can to protect my home!" And with that, she pulls out her Gravity Gun, _"This is a bad idea, but it's all I've got!"_ And with that, she aims at the floor, and pulls the second trigger, boosting her into the air above William. _I will save my family!"_

"Trying to stomp on my head again are we?" The man laughs, "Haha! I guess you really are desperate to win now aren't you." He then aims his launcher once more, "Goodbye!" And with that, he fires; sending a missile the girl can't dodge.

The girl's eyes go wide as the rocket explodes next to her, sending her flying across the dome in defeat.

" _ **Well, I suppose all fun things cannot last forever."**_ GLaDOS sorrowfully quips, as William steps out from his cover, nonchalantly walks over to the exit elevator and waves his opponent goodbye, "I win Linka."

And with that, the white haired girl watches as William leaves the challenge as the victor.

" _ **Portal A.I. protocol complete. Returning to normal functionality."**_

The action field degenerates with that, leaving Linka on the cloudy ground of William's Paradise, with the titular man standing above her, sporting a soft smile, "Well, have you had enough Linka?"

The young girl remains silent; desperate to let the pain she feels dissipate before anything else.

"I apologize if you wish for death. Here, in my perfect world, the worst that can happen is that you get injured." He looks away, "I have yet to add the injury mitigating abilities." He turns back to the girl, "But that is besides the point. It still isn't too late for you. You can join me and help me to create this perfect world."

Linka looks up, and William holds his hand out for her to grasp.

"Please, come with me." He whispers.

"No…" Linka weakly goes, before slapping the man's hand away, "I'm not done yet."

"Oh?" He chuckles, "Why, you've been blown up, shot at and just put through the Enrichment Center, and yet, you still choose to deny me." He shakes his head, "My, my Lincoln, you are defiant to the end as it seems."

"What can I say?" Linka weakly pulls herself off the soft, cloudy ground, "I've still got a family to fight for, and they're still fighting for me." She then looks the man in the eyes, "I can feel it."

"Hmph, very well then, name your game and I shall defeat you, once and for all." The man then conjures up another top hat, which he proceeds to place on his head.

Linka holds her now injured body for a moment, allowing the countless thoughts rushing through her mind to settle down. The adrenaline coursing through her veins keeps her from letting go, while the fear filling her mind keeps her on the edge, _"There's only one game I can play like this. I have no choice…"_ She grits her teeth and shouts, "I challenge you to game of chess!"

Unlike the clean, albeit slightly dirty girl that had walked into William's paradise, Linka now stands injured before her opponent. The shrapnel had managed to tear her blouse and skirt, as well as cut her arms, exposed legs and face. Her hair, once a pristine white, was now torn at its ends. The hairclip she usually wore is now gone, as is the tuff of hair that her counterpart sports.

"Chess?" A joking smile appears on the man's face, "Of all the asinine games you could've chosen, you choose chess? The game that I defeated you in all those months ago?!"

The girl nods, "Yeah, I challenge you to simple game of chess. My twist is that if I beat you, you have to give me the final fragment along with the rest!"

"Oh?" He raises an eyebrow in interest, "Very well then. My twist is that if a piece is taken, then you take damage equal to that piece's rank!" He stares at the girl, "Do you accept."

Yet, the girl… the young woman doesn't back down, "Yeah, I accept."

William then raises his hands, "Then welcome-"

" _ **Generating Action Field… Wait… this is an action field?"**_ GLaDOS goes in surprise.

"Yeah, now generate this! Or I'll have Levi reprogram you to make you as dumb as Wheatley!" Linka shouts, causing the man to look at her in annoyance.

" _ **Very well. Generating Action Field: Chess Board."**_

And with that, the clouds disappear once more, giving rise to a chessboard with clear and opaque squares.

"Hmph, fine then!" The man raises his arms, "Then we shall battle in the majesty of the stars!" And with that, the chessboard rises further up, causing the Pillars of Creation to become visible once more, as the light from the countless stars surrounding them illuminates the field.

Finally, the man motions towards her, "It's your move, feel free to choose a side."

"I choose black!" Linka shouts, and GLaDOS responds with, _**"Color chosen! Generating pieces!"**_

And with that, Linka's camp appears with the young woman standing in place of the king.

"Then I shall be white." William's camp appears as well with the man standing in place of his king as well.

" _ **Begin game in 3… 2… 1… 0!"**_

"I start with White Pawn, D2 to D4!" And with that, an oversized piece with a rounded head and body moved forward, standing in the center of the field.

"Then I'll counter with this!" Linka shouts, pointing at one of her pawns, "I move Black Pawn, E7 to E6!"

William raises an eyebrow in curiosity, "You know Lincoln. You have yet to tell me the reason why you're still fighting. I purposefully set you up to get injured so you would be forced to give in to me, and yet you persist!"

Linka stands firm, though still clutching her injured body, "Why William? The answer's simple. Because they'll never give up on me!" She starts to glow with a soft white light.

William counters by glowing with a soft orange light, "Very well, my move!"

* * *

"G'ahh!" Male Lynn shouts as Nyln quickly side steps him, forcing him to his knees, as well as making yet another goal. **0-4, home**

"This isn't looking good Lynn." The boy goes, forcing himself up to his feet.

"Heh, of course it's not." The girl answers, a fierce strength filling her gaze, "And it always is." She starts to glow with red light, as does the boy, "But that's how I love it." She looks at the boy with a certain smile, "We're gonna turn the around someway or another!"

"But how? We're down four points and she only needs one to win!" The boy goes in fear.

"Remember why we're fighting." The girl stares at their opponent. "We're fighting to save our homes, our families and friends."

"And our brother and sister." The boy finishes, "I think I know how we're gonna do this, but you're gonna have to trust me." Followed by whispering something into her ear.

The girl raises an eyebrow in curiosity, "Oh? And how do you expect to do that?"

The boy raises his thumb, "Just gotta trust me."

"Yawn, you guys done? I wanna go get a meatball sub." Nyln taunts, before she drops the ball on the ground.

The duo stands before her once more, with their bodies now glowing with pure red light. "We're ready."

She raises an eyebrow, "Huh, I'm likin' the new look here. But it's not gonna help you at all!" And with that, she kicks the ball and makes a beeline for the goal.

Male Lynn jumps in front of this time, and uses a simple twirl to knock the ball off course, blindsiding Nyln. "What the?!"

"This is what I learned from embracing what I like!" He quickly jumps back and twirls again, before spinning and knocking the ball into the opposing goal. **1-4 Home.**

"What the…" Nyln goes in shock, before immediately shaking his head, "Whatever, that was a lucky shot!" She conjures up another ball… which the female Lynn proceeds to kick aside into the net. **2-4 Home.**

"Grr. Whatever!" Nyln goes, before creating yet another, "No matter the tricks you'll never be able to beat me!" Then, she charges.

This time, female Lynn runs in for the capture, though Nyln easily pushes passed her… only for the male Lynn to sideswipe her and steal the ball, before running it back and making the third goal. **3-4 Home.**

"No… this isn't happening!" Nyln goes, "Whatever!" She creates yet another and rushes for it, easily grabbing hold and running for the opposing end. Male Lynn jumps in front of her with that, "Haha! That won't work twice!" She quickly dodges his spinning… only for the female Lynn to come up the side and kick the ball away, allowing her to make the forth goal. **4-4 Tied.**

"Heh, I underestimated you two." Nyln begrudgingly goes as she walks to the opposing end of the field, "But that doesn't matter here! Tiebreaker sudden death!" And with that, the ball falls, and the trio charges for it.

Quickly, Nyln gets the ball once more. And yet, this time her counterparts simply charge at her in response, "Heh, you are so crazy that you'll just give me the game?!" She speeds up to meet their assault.

Then, just as they're mere inches away from the ball, the duo breaks off and spins, blindsiding the girl once more and sending the ball flying away.

"This is who I am!" Male Lynn shouts as both he and female Lynn rush passed Nyln, who can only chase them in response.

"This is who we are!" The girl responds, before they both jump up and kick the ball together, sending it flying into the goal. **5-4 Visitor.** **Winner!**

"We did it!" Girl Lynn grabs the boy and hugs him, with the boy simply smiling in response.

"Heh, you guys did." Nyln smiles, "You beat my challenge, feel free to move on." She then snaps her fingers, causing the exit to open up once more.

And with just a simple nod, the duo rushes through.

* * *

"I move White Pawn, E-2 to E-4!" William shouts, "You say you fight because you've got people fighting for you huh?"

"Yeah!" Linka shouts in response, "They're fighting and no matter what happens, I'll never abandon them! I play Black Pawn, D-7 to D-5!"

"Then where are they now?" The man counters, "As it stands, my agents of darkness have most likely defeated them and sealed their souls in the hell of my Inferno!" He swipes away his hand, "No one is here to help you, and no one is coming! White Knight, B1 to C3!"

Linka remains silent for a moment, before looking at the man with a hopeful gaze, "That's where you're wrong." She lets go of her wounds and holds her hand over her chest, "I can still feel them fighting to save their homes, fighting to make sure I still have a chance in this fight!" She begins to glow once more, "I move Black Pawn, C7 to C-5!"

William glows as well, "This is utter nonsense! White Knight, G1 to F3!"

Yet, the girl continues on, "You don't think that is, and I know it! Black Knight, B1 to C6!"

* * *

"This isn't looking too good you guys!" Lana goes, while holding onto the boy's back, "Just because I was able to make this motorcycle more stable doesn't mean we can take another hint like that."

"Yeah!" Lola flares her arms in annoyance, "Yeah! Why'd you let them hurt you two so much?!"

Leif and Lexx look at each other for moment, and simply nod.

"This is why you two!" Lexx shouts, "Because no matter what happens, we've got the love of our sister to give us strength!"

"Yeah! Linka taught me that sometimes I have to do what I must for the greater good!" He glances back at Lana, "Even if that means takin' a little damage so we can win!" He begins to glow with blue light, as does Lana.

"And she taught me to accept myself for who I am! And that my family will always be behind me, no matter what happens!" Lexx adds, before glowing with pink light, as does Lola.

Alol throws her head back in laughter, "Haha! Wow, really you think you can beat our fields?!"

Nala then holds her duel disk in front of her, making sure to laugh as well, "Yeah? It's not like you can stop the True Kings and Dragons!"

"Then you've never met us before!" Leif shouts, before he places his hand on his next card, "This is my Destiny Draw! The card glows with soft orange light and he pulls it from the receiver, followed by him slapping it down without even looking at it, "I play the spell, Rank-Up-Magic Family's hope force!" He points at the dragons ahead of them, "By paying all but 500 of our lifepoints, I can revive as many Raid Raptors that we summoned this duel, and rank them up into monsters two ranks higher!" And with that, Rise Falcon and Satellite Cannon Falcon appear on the field, before both flying into Overlay Vortexes.

"Proud Falcon, raise your wings dyed in the blood of heroes and ignite the path to revolution! Go Rank-Up-Xyz Evolution! Emerge, Rank 6, Raidraptor Revolution Falcon! And next, Falcon of ultimate creation, carry on the wishes of your fallen comrades and soar on to victorious skies! Go Rank-Up-Xyz Evolution! Descend, Rank 10, Raidraptor Ultimate Falcon!" And with that, the two metal birds appear on the field. "Due to this card, I cannot attack this turn. "Your move Lexx."

"Gladly!" Lexx places his hand on the deck, "Wanna draw together Lola?"

Lola blushes in response, before smiling and nodding.

"This is our Destiny Draw!" The card glows with orange light as well, "I play the Spell, Blackwing Accel Evolution! With it I can summon A Blackwing from the grave and extra deck, treat one as a tuner and Synchro summon! However, I must pay lifepoints until we only have one hundred left."

The twins' counter falls to 100.

"Wield the power of thunder and resonate through the skies with your jet-black wings! I Synchro Summon! Slash! Assault Blackwing - Onimaru the Divine Thunder!" Lexx shouts as the third bird appears on the field, with a jet-black blade in its hands and its metal wings given an orange trim.

"That doesn't matter!" Alol taunts, "It still can't beat us!"

"Next I active Synchro gravity which allows Onimaru to attack each of your monsters!" Lexx plays his facedown card.

Nala clutches her fists, "Dangit."

"Don't keep me out!" Not to be outdone, Leif hits his duel disk as well, "And I'll play Xyz Gravity which allows my monsters to do the same!"

Their twin opponents look on in horror as the three monsters fly up.

And together, the two sets of twins shout, "Attack! Final Glorious Thundering Revolution Burst!" And with that, the three attack, destroying the dragon their opponents were flying on, and bringing their counter to 0.

The twins dismount the bikes with that, "Come on guys, we gotta get to Linka!" Leif shouts, followed by Lexx and the girls nodding, before turning and running down the open hallway.

* * *

"Fine then, I use white pawn to take your black one! White Pawn, E4 to D5!" And with that, the white pawn jumps and crushes the black one, immediately sending a jolt of electricity through the already injured girl's body, "Had enough?"

"Heh, you think I'm done? I'm just getting started!" Linka crawls back to her feet, "I use my black pawn to take your white one! Black Pawn, E6 to D5!" And with that, Linka's pawn crushes William's, sending energy through the man's body, not that he lets it faze him of course.

"Grr fine! If you're going to fight, then I should bolster my defenses!" William points to one of his bishops, I'll move my White Knight, F1 to E2!"

"Heh well then I'll continue by moving my knight!" She strengthens her gaze, "I'm not gonna let you get an inch on me! Not after I've let you lead me on for so long! I move my Black Knight, G8 to F6!"

William shakes his head, "Whatever, I don't have time to bother with your asinine statements of friendship. I'm going to build the perfect world and you can't stop me!" He walks over to his rook, "I castle!"

Linka immediately counters, "Well then I'll move my Black Bishop, "F8 to E7." She points at the man, now standing on top of his Rook, "I'm gonna show you just what I can do! And with that, she glows once more, "It's time to put on a show!"

* * *

"Dangit, this is hopeless…" Lars goes in despair, "To think of all of the practicing we've done to be perfect at what we do and yet, none of it matters cause we can't even entertain an audience as small as this."

"Hey, chin up bro…" Lane goes, trying desperately to keep his joyful demeanor, "I mean… just because we can't make them feel or laugh, doesn't mean we're worthless."

"Yeah! You're pawesome!" Luan goes, "So what if they're trying to pound away at our confidence! We're the best at what we do and we shouldn't let anyone say otherwise!"

"I agree." Lucy holds up a small paper, "Lincoln told me that my work was worth more than I thought…"

"Yeah! Lincoln became my assistant and helped me relearn what it's like to have fun with someone!" Luan adds on, flaring her arms as she does so.

A moment of silence passes with that, before Lane smiles, "Yeah, and Linka taught me that I wasn't worthless just because of a mistake. I did my best and things were fine at the end of the day…"

"And she taught me that I'm more valuable than I thought." Lars gives a soft smile as well, before the four begin to glow with yellow and grey light.

Immediately, they turn to each other and smile, and idea starting to form in their minds, before they bolt off to stage right.

 _ **A few minutes later…**_

"Ladies and gentlemen!" a voice calls out, before a glowing Lane and Luan swing onto the stage, "This is our last attempt!"

The glowing Lars and Lucy then walk on stage holding up their paper.

"There once was a nice man who the town really loved, especially his wife." Lars starts, before Lucy continues, "Yet, one day, she vanished."

Luan promptly jumps off the rope leaving Lane swinging alone.

"Sadness filled the man's heart, and he started to cry." Lars goes, before Lucy finishes, "He also fell off the rope."

Immediately, Lane lets go of the line tying him to the ceiling, causing him to fall to the stage with a loud bang.

"After that, his wife came back, the end." Lars and Lucy finish, before the four looks at the crowd in anticipation.

And just like that, the crowd breaks out in laughter and tears, signaling that they had won the challenge!

"Heh, nice one." Auln claps while Culy simply nods, "Unbind your chains, you're free to go."

"Awesome!" Lane shouts, as the dark chains break free of their bodies. Then, without hesitation, the four rush through the open door to the next stage.

* * *

"Loki, what're we gonna do?!" Lori shouts in fear, before the fist of winds comes down upon the duo, enveloping them in Roli's attack.

"G'ahh!" They shout before weakly pulling out of a small crater in the ground.

"Well… that could've gone better." Loki quips, before readying his weapon once again.

Lori shakes her head, "Loki, put that down, you know that that didn't work the first time!"

Loki takes a deep breath and gives Lori a soft gaze, "Lori, if I've learned anything from my time with Lincoln, it's that sometimes, you've just gotta keep going and hope for the best. So what if the odds are stacked against you, it's the fact that you're doing your best to make the world a better place that matters." He then turns back to their opponent, "And I'm not gonna let my sister… my true sister down!" Both Loki and Lori start to glow with light blue light.

"Heh, the twerp never changes huh?" Lori smiles, before steeling her gaze; "All right then Loki, what's the plan?"

"Plan? No plan needed. I'm gonna entertain!" he then drops the rifle and unloads it, before bashing it against the floor and spinning it up, "Stay clear."

"I know what you're doing!" Lori then pulls out her phone and starts taking selfies.

Quickly, the young man drops his rifle to present arms and shouts, "Please, enjoy the show!" And with that, he pulls out and starts banging and spinning the rifle around, before ending with throwing the weapon up and catching it behind his back, "Thank you for watching!"

Roli smiles, "Now that was entertaining!" She starts clapping, "Bravo you two, you've beaten my challenge!" she points to the nearby door, "Now go on now, your sister is probably waiting for you!"

The two of them nod, before running through the open door.

* * *

"A show huh? Good luck with that. I've given you the chances and all the promises I could ever make, and yet you've still chosen to deny me." William shakes his head "I have no choice, but to end your tiny, insignificant existence here and now!" He points at another piece, White Bishop, C1 to G5!"

"I castle!" Linka declares, before running over and climbing up her rook, "Now you're not gonna get me that easily!"

"This wouldn't be any interesting if you were." William shakes his head, "I attack your black pawn with my white pawn! White Pawn, D4 to C5!"

And with that, another jolt of electricity forces its way through the girl.

"Fine then." She holds her aching arm, "I move Black Bishop, C8 to E6."

"You fight for your family, and yet your family has abandoned you!" William throws his arms up in frustration, "I'm attacking you with absolutely everything and harming you, and yet you fight on!"

"Because I've learned more than you think William." She shakes her head, "If I were Linka then maybe I would join you."

"Linka was imperfect!" William shouts.

"And so am I!" Linka counters, "Imperfection is perfect!"

"Lies!" William shakes his head; "You make no sense to me! White Knight, F3 to D4!"

"And I never will so long as you hold onto the loss you've felt!" Linka then points to her bishop, "Now feel my fury! Black Bishop, E7 to C5, I'll take your pawn!" And with that, she glows once more.

* * *

"Well, well, this is how it ends for you all. Done in by your daughter's hand!" The Linka counterpart taunts as she floats over to the quartet of defeated parents.

"No…" A masculine voice painfully goes, before 63 Rita and Lynn pull themselves up from the rubble.

"Oh? What are you talking about?" The girl tilts her head in confusion, "Of course I'm your daughter! Mom, you even gave birth to me!"

63 Rita looks away in shame and glances at their injured counterparts. And yet, 63 Lynn doesn't back down, choosing instead to look the young girl in the eyes, "Yeah, you're my daughter by blood, but not by family."

The girl throws her head back in laughter, "Haha! How funny! You're trying to do something about this now?!"

63 Lynn Sr. holds his fists tight, "Better late then never."

"So what are you gonna do? Put me to bed? Ground me?" The girl taunts, while throwing her head back in laughter.

Rita and Lynn start to glow with soft, white light.

"Oh?" She raises an eyebrow, "Oh well, goodbye." And with that, she charges up a sphere of darkness and fires… only for the attack to just simply bounce off the parents.

Rita the steels her nerves, "Its time we started acting more like parents and less like wardens." She steps over and grabs the girl, "And we'll start by grounding you for life!"

"What?! No!" she goes, only for her father to grab her hand.

"And we'll finish by putting you to bed!" And with that, he grabs the girl, and knocks her into the ground, rendering her unconscious.

"Ugh…" C-137 Lynn Sr. goes, "What happened."

"We finally became the parents we needed for our daughter." Rita answers with a soft frown. "I'm just sad it had to come to this…"

63 Lynn Sr. places a hand on her shoulder, while C-137 Rita does the same, and adds, "It was for the best, now come on, let's go save your real daughter."

And with that the four adults nod, before running through the open door ahead.

* * *

A hopeless endeavor indeed, to try and fight the countless beasts of darkness guarding the gate to William's perfect world.

"Heh… so this is how it ends huh?" Lyle quips as the beasts overrun her, "I guess I had a good run…"

"Not yet!" A voice calls out, before a green light emanates from Nell's pile, "These things can be sealed!"

Lyle's eyes go wide in shock, "Really?!" She hardens her gaze, "Awesome." And with that, they proceed to card the beasts, freeing Aeif and Alex.

"Heh, this is convenient." The boy quips before jumping up, "Now come at me you kitty cats!"

Aeif chuckles and proceeds to follow, "I wanna catch some of the doggies too!"

"Lets get out of here you two, we've gotta catch up with the others!" Lyle commands, and without a single ounce of arguing, they follow the command.

* * *

"Grr." William growls as the electricity rushes through his body, "No matter! You and your imperfections-"

"Have made it further and will go further than you ever will." She speaks in a commanding voice, "You've tried to build this perfect world ten thousand times and yet, you've made no progress! Why? Because it's impossible!"

"Shut up! I use my white knight to take your black bishop! White Knight D4 to E6!" William shakes his head in frustration.

Immediately, the knight rides up and stabs the minister with its lance, destroying the piece and sending a wave of fire over the young girl, burning her ever so slightly, "Ugh…" She falls to the floor."

"There, that should teach her-" The man crosses his arms.

"Man, you're so like Linka." Linka quips, "I attack your knight! Pawn, F7 to E6! And with that, the pawn crosses the knight, sending a wave of ice shards at the man, cutting his suit and slashing his face.

"What are you talking about?!" William shouts, sweeping away his hand in annoyance, "I am nothing like that little brat! White Bishop, E2 to G4!"

"Yeah you are." Linka smiles, "Think about it. Both of you are Lincoln counterparts, that have faced a great hardship in your lives. Black Queen, D8 to D6."

"So? Everyone has issues in their lives!" William defends, looking away as he does so, "White Bishop, G4 to H3."

Linka doesn't hesitate to continue, "You two decided to try to change something about your place in the multiverse! I move my Black Rook, A8 to E8! And she glows again!"

* * *

Luke, Nyla and Luna lie on the floor, defeated, as their counterpart stands over them.

"Man, you are so easy. Welp, time to turn you into music!" And with that she starts to strum.

"There's just no way that we can win… that was an epic blast… She plays too well because she's got some much power…" Luke starts to sing, while all three of them glow with purple light.

Nyla then speaks up, "Listen both of you, she's gonna end our run right here, she's gotta send us to another world."

"Never." Luna goes.

"Unless we can make a massive monster mama-jam." Nyla sings.

"Dudes, I know we all just met…" Luna starts to pick herself off the floor.

"I had to hear Lane and Luan's stupid puns." Luke pinches the bridge of his nose.

"That was rough." Nyla adds on.

And then together, they sing; "Now it's time to take this sucker down." Suddenly, their glow gets brighter, before they start strumming once more.

"What the?!" Nula goes in surprise, "How are you still able to stand?!"

"Come on guys now it's time to blow doors down." Luke sings, his beat speeding up.

"I hear you Luke, now it's time to blow doors down." Luna responds, by playing faster as well.

"So make your move cause not gonna take us down!" Nyla shouts and with that, a drumbeat comes in.

Their beat speeds up before they all sing, "You're not gonna take us down, cause we're the louds, and we're ready to rock! We're same person from all different places, and we're here to show ya!" And with that, they all strum, sending a massive shockwave at the panicking Nula.

"Uhh," She goes, before frantically strumming, "Somebody make a move, somebody make a move, please somebody make a move, we all know, we all know what's going on!" And sends her own to counter.

Yet, her attack is not enough, ending with the trio's attack overwhelming Nula's, sending her to defeat.

"Let's get out of here before she can stop us." Nyla goes, eliciting nods from her counterparts, before all three rush out the nearby door.

* * *

"Oof… that was miscalculated…" Levi goes, before he stands up and dusts himself off, "Any leftover ideas Lisa."

"Negative." The young girl sighs in defeat, "I don't have any idea how to solve this puzzle."

"Lincoln once taught me that when trying to live your life, sometimes you just gotta take a step back and try to enjoy the challenge… and enjoy who you are…" Levi goes, an idea starting to form.

"Well, how does that lesson help us finish here?"

Levi smiles, and begins to glow with green light, as does Lisa. "Step back." And with that, the duo does so.

"It can't be?!" Lisa shouts, before rushing over to the board, "Taking a break and just stepping back worked?!"

Levi chuckles, "Yeah, now let's finish this!"

And with that, a cloud of dust overtakes the duo, before the stand before the completed board, victorious smiles on their faces.

"Huh… it seems you've beaten me. Very well, you are free to go."

And with that, Lisa and Levi turn and run off.

* * *

"Whatever, countless people have done that? It's more common than you'd expect!" He turns to face the girl, "Succeeding is the hardest part about it all! White Queen, D1 to D2!"

"Heh, well then congrats on that." Linka chuckles, "But the most important thing of all is, you both decided to bring me into your plans! Black Bishop, C5 to B4."

William just shakes his head in response, "That means nothing! I never wanted to abandon my family and life! Everything I did was to bring her back so we could be happy together! I capture your knight! White Bishop, G5 to F6!"

Immediately a small storm attacks Linka, cutting up her already injured body even more, "Heh, it's just a scratch, I'll be fine." She points at the bishop, and jumps off the rook, "I attack your bishop! Black Rook, F8 to F6!" And with that, the castle piece tackles the bishop, causing a small firestorm to engulf William for a moment, singing his clothes.

"You have no counter huh?" William crosses his arms, "White Rook, A1 to D1."

"I always do. After all, I'm Lincoln Loud of Dimension C-137." She stands up tall, "Yet, you've still gone to the extreme, no matter what your intentions were! Black Queen, D6 to C5."

"Grr… you're wrong." William shakes his head, "You're just trying to get into my head! White Queen, D2 to E2."

"Man, you even respond like her." Linka quips, "I use my bishop to take your knight!"

William counters, "And I use my pawn to take your bishop."

And with that, the duo is attacked by fire and ice once more, though the girl still manages to glow with white light once again.

* * *

"Linka… needs me…" Loni goes, before both he and Leni glow with light-green light, "before a hand bursts through the threads, "Leni?"

"Mnph!" The girl responds, her body still covered in its fabric cage. Immediately, Loni pulls the young girl out, "Come on, we've gotta beat her!"

"But how?!" Leni asks, as she regains her bearings.

"Simple." Loni smiles, "We just do what we do best, be creative and make something form it!"

"But that didn't work before Loni!" Leni flares her arms in frustration, "What make you think it's gonna work now?!"

Loni looks away and starts working with the fabrics, "Because… Linka trusted me to make her dress, and I'm not gonna let her down now!"

Leni can't help but smile, "Really?! Like, that's awesome!" She looks towards the fabrics before looking up their counterpart, "But like, how are we gonna catch up? There's no way we could?"

"Hey Leni, if I've learned anything from spending time with Linka, it's that sometimes, you just gotta go out and try. Just because you feel something is embarrassing doesn't mean you should always keep it tucked away." He looks into her eyes, "And I think you and I both know what we can do."

"All right then…" Leni grabs hold of the fabric and together, the duo takes a deep breath.

Immediately, they throw up a cloud of dust, followed by the clattering of their construction tools.

And a few moments later, the duo holds up a pretty pink dress with a matching bonnet, frills and white trim… as well as a set of angel wings on the back.

"What the?!" Neli looks up surprise, "How did you-"

"Don't ask, we don't know either!" Loni shouts, eliciting a grimace from their counterpart.

"We win, right?" Leni cheerfully asks.

Neli sighs, "Yes, you win." She snaps her fingers, causing the remaining threads to let go of the duo, "You are free to go."

"Yay!" The duo cheers, before promptly grabbing the dress and running off.

* * *

Ronnie Anne pulls herself to her feet and raises her fists, "Come on, you can't beat me that easily."

"Why do you fight? You're out numbered and outmatched!" Ron Andy chuckles, before Claudia and Cristopher comes to his side, "You should give up now at let your soul wander this place for eternity.

"Simple." The Latino girl smiles, while her friends climb up to their feet, "Because we'll never give up." She pants in exhaustion, "Not as long as someone's fighting to keep us safe.

"Yeah! If I've learned anything from being with Linka, it's that Lincoln's the best friend ever and would never let us down!" Clyde cuts in, raising his fists as well as he can.

Cristina just shrugs, "I was creeped out by the kid when I saw that video of him, but I'll admit, I appreciate how far we've gone to save everyone." Cristina hardens her stance as well, "And I'm gonna make sure to repay the favor right now!"

Ron Andy just throws his head back in laughter, "Oh really now? That's the best joke I've heard all day."

"Yeah, the souls caught on Purgatrio's Cliffs will never escape the wrath of William!"

"Hey genius." Clyde steps forward, "Purgatrio is for redemption!"

And with that, the three children begin to glow with yellow and purple light.

"I'm annoyed that I missed so much time with my boyfriend." Ronnie Anne clutches her fists, "And that my boyfriend is currently my girlfriend. But I said I'd catch up and I never break a promise!"

"Get real!" Cristopher shouts, before throwing a punch as his counterpart… only for the once reluctant to easily catch the attack and send one back.

"Screw this!" Cristina then shoves the boy away, causing him to stumble back.

Clyde then jumps in front of him, "Didn't anyone ever teach you not to hurt a lady! This is what people do to guys like you!" And with that, he punches the boy so hard, that he falls to ground, unconscious.

"Wow Clyde!" Cristina walks over, "That was awesome!"

Clyde can't help but blush as he rubs the back of his head, "Yeah, it was…"

"Hey Love birds, if you're done flirting, I could use some help here!" Ronnie Anne sends a fist right into Claudia's face, taking her out as well, leaving only Ron Andy to oppose them.

"So, give up?" Clyde chuckles.

Ron Andy shakes his head, "Never, I'll never-"

"Whatever!" Ronnie Anne shouts, "All together now!"

"Wait what?!" The lone boy shouts, before his three opponents pull back and send their fists right into his face, knocking him out as well.

"Wow, that was awesome!" Cristina goes, while Clyde adds, "It hurt my hand though…"

Ronnie Anne grabs them in response, "Whatever you two, we gotta catch up to Lincoln!"

And with that, they head up the stairs into paradise.

* * *

"Poo-poo!" Leon goes before help Lily back up.

Lily nods, "Poo-poo!"

And with that, the two babies glow with lavender light, before conjuring two giant mallets, and promptly hitting away Ylil... sending the baby to bedtime way before her curfew.

Leon and Lily promptly nod at each other, before floating out of the room as fast as they can.

Ylil meanwhile rubs her head in confusion, unsure of just how to take what just happened.

* * *

"What I'm saying is, you need to realize that you're not as clean as you make yourself out to be." Linka forces herself to her feet once more. "But that can all change. Queen takes your pawn. White Queen, C5 to C3. And with that, the queen inches over, and simply knocks the pawn down, breaking the piece."

"There is no stopping me." William shakes his head, "Not when I'm so close." He looks away, "You are the reason… you are hiding the way! Rook takes your pawn! Black Rook, D 1 to D5!" And with that, a jolt of energy rushes through Linka.

"You and her… neither of you learn." Linka gets up, "Every time you knock me down, I'll just get back up. Better, stronger than before." She holds her hand over her chest, "Because I know, I'm never alone no matter what I do! Black Knight, C6 to D4!"

"Who cares?! In a perfect world-"

"Screw the perfect world!" Linka shouts, "You know that deep down that type of world is impossible!" her voice fills with a desperate plea, "Face facts William!"

"No! That's not a fact! White Queen, E2 to H5!" William shakes his head, denying the girl once more.

"Then I'll just have to make you listen!" Linka shouts, "Black Rook, E8 to F8!"

William just points at his rook, "No, no, no!" His voice begins to whine, "I don't care what you have to say! I just don't! White Rook, D5 to E5."

"You don't listen like her too." Linka shakes her head in disappointment, "If you wanna go and try to achieve perfection, feel free. But no matter what you do, no matter how far you go, and no matter who you hurt, you'll never get there." She looks the man in the eyes, "Linka knows where that leads. Rook, F6 to H6."

"I am nothing like that pathetic excuse for a counterpart." The man turns around in frustration, "Stop talking! Just stop talking about it all! Can't you see I'm trying to save everyone? White Queen, H5 to G5."

"Heh, heh." Linka pants, "No, no matter what you do you'll never save anyone! That's the truth!" She points at the man's bishop, Black Rook, H6 to H3." And with that, William is engulfed in flames once more, forcing him to his knees.

"This isn't over yet." The man pounds at his castle. "I will not let my dream die! White Rook, E5 to C5!"

A soft silence overtakes the girl with that. The air around her fills with an eerie tranquility, as she points to her now under attack queen, "No, it doesn't. But your take on it will end here. I move my queen, Black queen, C3 to G3."

"That puts your queen under the attack of mine!" William shouts in surprise.

"I know." Linka puts on a soft smile.

William's hands begin to tremble, "This… this can't be… uhh… I take your queen with my pawn! White Pawn, F2 to G3!"

And as the queen is destroyed, a massive thunderbolt falls upon the young girl, forcing her to fall flat on her face.

"Linka!" voices call out, before everyone rushes into the room, fearful of the girl's current state.

"That's what you get for making a play like that." William goes pridefully, "Now stay down, and maybe you won't get hurt."

"Ugh." Linka groans in response, "Now William, if I wanted to give up, I would've done that a long time ago." At this point, the girl is unable to stand up, choosing instead to stay on one knee, while resting on the other. She quickly turns to everyone else, "I'm all right guys, I'm just finishing up. Just stay calm and watch a master at work."

"How can you still kneel after an attack like that?!" The man takes a step back in fear.

"It's because I'm fighting for something I believe in." She looks back at the massive families waiting and cheering her on, "Just like how I understand you're fighting for something you believe in too. You and Linka have a major difference too ya know. Linka took every chance she had to abandon her family, while you… you are just trying to bring them back." She looks at him with determined eyes, "But… to end the multiverse and start anew isn't the way to go! That's why I'm gonna defeat you here!" She points at her knight, "Black knight, D4 to E2, your king is in check!"

"Go Lincoln!" Her family and friends shout in unison, before they all glow with the colors they hold so dear.

"No matter what, we're with ya!" Loni and Leni shout, with Lori and Loki adding, "Use what we taught ya!"

"This strategy is unexpected." Lisa goes, while Levi breaks his typical stoicism, "Yeah? Well who cares?! Go Linka!"

"Show that why you're the best!" Leif shouts, while Lexx goes, "And make sure to put on a show!"

Lana and Lola both shout, "Go Lincoln!"

"For the first time in ages, I feel… happy." Lars whispers, before giving a sincere smile, "Go Linka, go!" And Lucy remains silent, though a smile does form on her face as well.

"It's time to rock his pants off!" Luke goes, while Luna goes, "You're the one, bro! Stick it to em'!"

The five hunters watch on with giving random cheers to boot.

"Hey Lame-O, you still owe me another kiss!" Ronnie Anne shouts.

Clyde and Cristina smile and hold hands, while simply standing aside.

"Poo-poo!" the infants shout in unison, while the two comedians holding them translate, with Luan saying, "I agree! You've got a check to make!"

Lane throws his head back in laughter, "And checker too!"

"Heh, you show em' bro." Female Lynn goes, while male Lynn holds his arms up, "Yeah, show me what you can do!"

"No matter what happens here, you're still our son." C-137 Rita and Lynn Sr. go, while 63 Rita and Lynn Sr. add on, "And you'll always be our true daughter."

Linka smiles and nods with that, "With my family and friends by my side, I'm never alone!" She glows with white light once more. "It's time that you face the true, William!"

Then man's eyes go wide in shock, "What the?!" he looks around, before off his rook and onto an adjacent square, "You can't catch me now! White King, G1 to H1!"

Another moment passes, before Linka smiles. Her body glows with white light, illuminating the field for all to see, as she glances back at her family, "This is what my family has taught me. That everyone has a story that led them to where they are, and that it doesn't matter what happened in the past, as long as you're willing to keep it and create a new future!"

"That's nonsense!" William shouts, desperation filling his voice.

"The sentiment may sound cliché, I know." Hope fills the girl's voice, "But it's the truth and I'm not gonna let it go!" She raises her hand towards the heavens and shouts with a commanding voice, '"I move my rook to take yours! Black Rook, F8 to F1." Her piece attacks and destroys the rook, causing small earthquake to tremble, forcing the man to the ground.

Finally, with a soft, kind voice, Linka declares, "Checkmate."

Immediately, William's eyes go wide in shock, "This… this can't be."

"Good Match William, good match." Linka quips, followed by the cheers of her nearby family. "You did it!" And with that, they start dancing around and cheering in ways only they could do.

After that, the man starts to glow with orange light, followed by everyone else glowing as well. Their light engulfs the room, forcing Linka to close her eyes.

* * *

A moment of silence passes, before the young adult opens their eyes once more, revealing the emptiness of the void around them. "What the… where am I?!"

"Hello Lincoln Loud of Dimension C-137." A voice greets, "And welcome to the interdimension."

"Who's there?!" They desperately cry.

"Haha, of course, let me elaborate." The being responds by raising his ghostly hand and snapping his fingers, illuminating the void with millions of starry lights.

"What the?!" They look around for a moment, before their gaze falls upon a massive, dark being with countless faces. Its body glows with soft orange light, while being tethered to the roof of wherever they are by countless strings. Its dark hands loom over the boy menacingly. "What the heck are you?!"

"Ha ha ha!" The being goes, before continuing in a jovial tone, "I am Ethioth, the guardian of fate." He then lifts the young adult up in his shadowy hand, "And from what I've seen, you've had a busy time for the passed few months have you not?"

Lincoln nods, "Uhh yeah… I was a girl for…" then, the realization hits him, "Wait, I'm my own body again. What's going on?!"

"Simply put, you won. You defeated the Shadowman, and as per the rules of your challenge, you received the Macguffin's power." He holds up his other hand, "As the Guardian of Fate, it is my job to deliver.

"Oh… ok… wait…" he looks around for a moment, before looking up at the man, "So you're the person that's been screwing me over?"

Ethioth can't help but chuckle, "As the Guardian of Fate, it is my job to make sure that people are given a decent place to go in life, and to sometimes bend the rules in someone's favor."

"So yes…" Lincoln looks away, "I don't know what to say."

"Heh, very few people ever do." He the closes his fist causing the Macguffin to condense back into its Matter Key Watch form, before he hands it over, "I have brought you here for another reason."

Lincoln raises an eyebrow, "Yeah?"

The being then holds up the man that had caused Lincoln so much pain, himself. "I need to know what you wish to do with him. After all, he did almost kill the multiverse."

The young man doesn't hesitate to answer; "I want him given a new home, with his sister."

"Oh?" Ethioth leans back in surprise, "Would you care to tell me why?"

"William never really lied to me… he was the 'evil' version of me that wanted to destroy the world… but he wanted to do it to save his sister, and his Macguffin did offer a way home for me." He sighs, "The only thing bad he really did was try to build the perfect universe… and after everything he's done… he's still not worse than the real Linka of dimension 63i'\\."

"Heh, of course, of course." Ethioth chuckles, before snapping his fingers, "It is done." And with that, the man disappears from sight.

Lincoln looks around once more, "So uhh… what else is there?"

"Simple really." The man chuckles once more, before placing the young boy down and changing forms from a disfigured creature into that of a simple man in a suit and top hat, "The time has come to send you home. To the family you know."

His eyes go wide in shock, "Really?! You're really going to send me home?!"

"Yes. No tricks, no issues, just a simple trip home." He then turns around and outstretches his arms and opens two portals, one blue and white one on his right and a pink and white one on his left, "The choice is yours. You can return home to dimension C-137 or return to your new home of 63 apostrophe backslash."

"Wow… this is too good to be true." The young man quips. "But what about everyone else?"

"Of course it is. But after I put you through a long story like that, I think you deserve it." The ancient man smiles. "As for your families and friends, they're safe. None of them were displaced from the timeline as it stands, and since this follows you, well, it's your choice. I'm sure they'll accept any you take."

"Wait… a story?" Lincoln tilts his head in confusion.

"Heh, don't think about it." Ethioth shakes his head, "When it comes to the universe, that's the best word of advice I can give."

"Ok then… anything else?" Lincoln nervously asks.

"Actually, yes." The man proceeds to walk over and kick the young man in the crotch, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. "Someone on A-113's Internet asked me to do that before you made your choice."

The young man holds his aching family jewels as he stands up, "Ow!" while thinking, _"I should do something… but you know what… no… I just wanna…"_ He then limps over in front of them and hesitates for a moment. _"I just wanna…"_

And yet, he still looks on into the two portals and watches the possible futures he has in store for himself. Both hold plenty of adventure with either his brothers or his sisters. He can see a chance to grow up into a man or woman, have kids with Ronnie Anne or Ron Andy, while watching his best friends do the same.

Though, the mere thought of the possibilities aches in his chest.

"So what is your choice?" Ethioth asks. "You may use the power of the Macguffin to restore Dimension 63i'\ and return home, or restore it and go there to live."

In response, Lincoln simply turns to the man, and looks at him with a soft, yet determined gaze.

"I want cake."

 _ **The End**_

15-4-25-19-19-5-21-19 8-1-19 15-14-5, 6-9-14-1-12, 3-8-15-9-3-5 20-15 13-1-11-5.

20-15 18-5-20-21-18-14 8-15-13-5 15-18 14-15-20 20-15 18-5-20-21-18-14 8-15-13-5, 20-8-1-20 9-19 20-8-5 17-21-5-19-20-9-15-14. 23-8-1-20 4-15 25-15-21 20-8-9-14-11?

 **A/N And with that, the main body of the story is complete! I hope you guys enjoyed this so far! All that's left are the epilogue chapters, of which I have 5 planned. As always, I'd love to hear what you think!**

 **I thank Wolvenstrom, Exotos135 and Insane Master Writer Studio for all their help!**

 **Credits for songs: Skillet's "The Resistance", Icon For Hire's "Make A Move" and Tenacious D's "Beelzeboss".**

 **And now, I shall go take a break. My head hurts severely from writing this. I have only gotten 8 hours of sleep in the past 3 days. Also, since I didn't update FAL or UB yesterday, I'll be updating FAL next Saturday.**


	36. Goodbye Dimension 63

**A/N Man, I'm cutting it close with this one. I'm posting this 1 hour away from midnight! But hey, I'm still not gonna be late! I hope you guys enjoy the first of the 5 planned epilogue chapters!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt : Lincoln goes home.**_

Epilogue One: Goodbye Dimension 63

Soft daylight filters through the rounded, linen closet window, illuminating the room of a certain white-haired boy.

" _Wow_ _… I can't believe it's been a week since I beat William…"_ The young boy whispers, as he stares at the small, watch-like device resting in his hands, _"So much has happened… and yet, why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?"_ He sighs, _"Heh, I'm sure it's nothing. After all… I made it back. I'm finally home!"_

Yet, rather than jump at the idea of being home, Lincoln can't help but feel just a bit down.

"Hey Lincoln, ya feelin' all right?" Lori sticks her head in the boy's linen closet room, "We've been busy gettin' everything ready and well, you've been quieter than we thought you'd be when you got back. The girls and I are starting to get worried about ya."

Lincoln shoves the device in his pocket, "Yeah… I'm fine. I'm just reminiscing and stuff." The boy puts on a pained smile, "I left my Ace Savvy comics in the other dimension so I'm just trying to figure out where I left off, ya know?"

"Heh, you're still a terrible liar." The young woman puts on a nostalgic smile and takes a seat next to the young boy, "Heh, but if that's really the case, then I'm sure I could take ya to the comic book store."

The boy perks up at the idea, "You mean it Lori?"

The young woman nods, "Yeah, anything for my little bro." She playfully runs her hand through the younger boy's, now short, white hair; "After all, after havin' to deal with an annoying little twerp for six months. I'd do anything just to spend a little more time with my real little twerp."

"Thanks Lori." He moves into the young woman's hand, allowing her affectionate rub to take him in. Yes, he is used to the boys giving him all the affection he could ever hope for, but it just doesn't feel the same when it comes from the girls. "So… did Lisa get it ready yet?"

"That's what I came in here to tell ya." Lori squats down to the boy's height, "Lisa and Levi stayed up all week to get the dimensional bridge up and running again…" Her voice trails off.

"But?" Lincoln tilts his head in curiosity.

"But, because of everything William did and all of the anomalies… well… you can't jump between dimensions without risking another collapse." She looks the young man in the eyes, "I'm sorry."

" _I_ _… I can't visit them?!"_ The boy's bright expression fades in disappointment, "Really? Oh…" He holds his arm and looks away, "I just thought… since, ya know…"

Lori puts her hands on his shoulders, "There's good news though."

Lincoln looks at the young woman, "And that would be?"

"Lisa and Levi were able to allow you to pass through once and come back… you know… to say goodbye and stuff."

"So I can visit them… once…" The boy looks away, fear beginning to fill his body.

:Hey, don't sweat it bro, we know that you've had fun the past few months hanging out with the boys." She lets out a deep breath, "But it's time for you to… well… let them go."

" _I_ _'m abandoning them…"_ Lincoln clutches his fists and closes his eyes, _"My brothers… I'm no better than Linka!"_

"Hey, chin up." The young woman stands up, "They'll understand. Levi's doing his best to explain exactly what's going on, so saying… ya know… will be more painless than you'd expect. So what do ya say?"

Lincoln responds by silently holding onto the device that had caused this mess, the all-powerful artifact that the Shadowman had sent him to collect.

"They deserve to see the boy that was their sister bid them farewell." Lori continues, taking his hand in her own.

With a soft, begging sigh, Lincoln nods, "All right Lori… All right."

And with that, together, they walk out of the converted linen closet and bank left, walking into Lisa and Lily's room. A small, golden gate stands open in front of a random setup of computers. The sisters simply stand around it, talking amongst themselves.

"Hey girls." Lincoln calmly greets, causing the girls to immediately turn to him. A moment of silence passes as the girls turn to their only brother… and immediately rush over to hug him.

"Lincoln!" They shout in unison as they all clutch their brother as tightly as a group of ten girls can muster, nearly suffocating the young boy they hold so dear.

"Haha, girls! You're choking me!" Lincoln shouts as his body is almost crushed by the combined might of his sisters, causing the girls to disperse and instead attack him with a random flurry of questions; most of which can be boiled down to, "How are you feeling?! Are you sure you wanna do this? The portal doesn't work anymore!"

"Quiet!" Lori shouts, her voice cutting through the family's typical chaos, as well as causing the girls to turn to her instead. She puts her hands on her hips and continues, "Girls, This is something Lincoln needs to do. Give him some space, ok?"

"Aww!" Lana whines, "I wanted to find out if he had some magic stuff that could fix this portal!"

"Yeah! And I wanted to know if he could make me into a fairy princess to impress Lexx!" Lola swishes her hair.

"Lola, you do know that Lexx is basically you from another dimension, right?"

Lola's face goes red in embarrassment, "What? I know that! I never said I wanted to do anything other than show off!"

"Heh, I incest you reconsider!" Luan throws her head back in laughter.

"Anyways, what they're saying is what we wanna know." Lynn turns to her brother.

Lincoln tilts his head, "You wanna see if I can turn Lola into a fairy princess?"

Lynn immediately facepalms, "No! We wanna know if you can fix this portal so we can go to dimension sixty-three at will!"

" _I probably could actually…"_ Lincoln rubs the back of his head and looks away. His voice remains uncertain, while his leg brushes up against the device resting in his pocket, "Well… after remaking dimension sixty-three, I'm not sure I have it in me to repair a single portal."

"Normally I would question the validity of everything you just said and about everything you have claimed to have done, but seeing as I fought a carbon copy of myself while my male counterpart fought right beside me, I have no reasonable way of debunking any of this." Lisa speaks up as she types in more random lines of code, stabilizing the gate as well as she can.

"I guess we're about to have a déjà vu!" Luan puns, throwing her head back in laughter as she does so, eliciting groans from her siblings

"Are you ready, Lincoln?" Lucy suddenly appears at the boy's side, "Everything's ready for you to talk to them." Though this time, Lucy's sudden appearance isn't enough to startle anyone.

For a moment, Lincoln considers backing away from the idea- to leave the boy's be and never give them the closer they would no doubt need after he left… and yet, he finds himself nodding in agreement. "I'm ready."

"Al right girls, give him some breathing room." Lori commands… causing Leni to shout, "Lincoln can't breathe?!"

"No Leni, if means Lincoln needs space to talk." Lori answers, eliciting a nod from Leni.

The girls back away from the boy with that.

"All right Lincoln, I just need you to stand in front of it. The machine's set up." Lisa's voice softens, losing its typical monotone. "Just place your hand on the device when ready and you'll pass through.

Lincoln then pulls out his Holo-Gear and taps away at the screen for a moment. _**"Disguise Generator Initialized: Genderswap."**_ And with that, Lincoln's body glows for a moment, his short white hair growing in length, while his polo and pants morph into an orange blouse and blue skirt. A moment Later, Lincoln is once again the spitting image of his counterpart. She looks at Lisa, "I'm ready.

And with that, the four-year-old pulls the initializing lever, causing the golden ring to slow down, causing it to change from gold to silver, as well as allow the dimensional bridge to stabilize, allowing ten boys, two parents and four friends to come into view. And with that, Lincoln takes one, final deep breath, before placing his hand on the portal and passing through.

 _ **On The Other Side…**_

"Levi, is it working?" Loki nervously asks.

"Affirmative brother. Lincoln is passing through right now…" Levi steps away from the console and joins his brothers in watching the portal. A moment of silent anticipation passes, before the young girl pushes through the gate, and lands in the dimension she had called home for six months.

Quickly, the girl hops to her feet and dusts herself off, before standing before the group of boys, eagerly waiting their response.

A moment of silence passes with that, with no one knowing just how to break the ice.

Yet, of course, it's up to Linka to break the ice, "Hey guys, what's up?"

The boys chatter for a moment, before Stopping and turning back to their former sibling.

"Is it really you, Linka?" Leif nervously steps forward, with Lexx following by his side.

" _What do I tell them?"_ Linka takes a moment to give her answer. But when she finally decides, the takes a knee in front of them and takes their hands in her own, "Guys, I'm Lincoln now. But yes, I was Linka."

"Wow." Lexx goes, "So… I don't know what else to say." The actor turns around, and with Leif in tow, returns to the group of 63 Louds.

Linka hops to her feet with that, "So uhh, how are you guys doin'?"

"We're all right I guess." Loni holds his arm awkwardly, "Things really haven't been the same since you left sis… everyone's really quiet and non one knows what to do…"

" _These guys have been caring for Linka for so long that the moment she's gone… they don't know what to do with themselves…"_ Linka sorrowfully thinks, "I'm sorry that I had to leave guys… but…"

"You're home now, right?" Lynn cuts her off, looking away as he does so.

The young woman can't help but do the same, "Yeah... It's nice to be back."

"That's good… really good." The ballerina boy can't help but put on a pained smile for the young girl.

Another moment of silence passes with that.

Though, Loki is the one to break the silence this time. He sighs and steps forward from the group, before taking a knee in front of the young woman., "Let's just get to the point." He looks her in the eyes, "You're not gonna be coming back… are you? Levi mentioned the bridge doesn't work anymore."

She sighs and nods in defeat, "Sorry guys, but after rebuilding your world and repairing all the problems I could find, there just isn't enough left in me to fix the bridge… I'm sorry."

"So is this, like, goodbye?" Loni tilts his head in curiosity, causing everyone to wince in pain.

Linka doesn't answer, her own uncertainty filling her body, as if she too doesn't know how to answer the question.

Yet, Luke comes to the rescue with, "Then let's make the most of what we've got now." He sighs, "After all, 'How can you love the Ghost, of what could've been'?"

" _These guys never change."_ Linka smiles, "You know what, after spending so much time with you, I think that's all I'd wanna do before I… go for a long time."

"So what do ya wanna do with us sis?" Lane asks, raising Mrs. Coconuts as he does so, "It better not be lane! Or else my name isn't Lame!" The young man throws his head back in laughter with that.

"Before we go… first... I wanna know, what happened to the real Linka?" The girl turns to the two parents, her expression filling with curiosity.

Rita and Lynn Sr. Look at each other for a moment, before nodding in agreement. Lynn Sr. answers, "Well, we finally decided to give her something she desperately needed: discipline."

"What do you mean?" Linka tilts her head in confusion. "She seemed fine there… driven, crazy, but driven."

"Well, we sent her off to live with her aunts and uncles in South Dakota." Rita rubs the back of her head, "As it stands, she's gonna have to work and realize just how much everyone gave up to make her comfortable."

"Well… it's better than dying in the Sahara after all." The girl chuckles, "Plus, maybe some time in a place where there's nothing to do and with the family members that annoy us the most will teach her the true meaning of not abandoning the people who love you." She then turns to the boys, "What about the rest of ya?"

"Heh, nothing much has happened in the past week." Lars appears at the girl's side, "Besides me getting into Minecraft and almost forgetting to finish the epilogue to my main story." He pulls out a small script, "I'm posting this borderline late. In fact, after I finish here, I'm gonna go to my room and finish it."

"Heh of course. Workaholic you" The girl chuckles.

"I'm not a workaholic." Lars shoves the paper in his pocket, "I'm just bad at keeping the schedules I set for myself."

"Heh, all right then." Lincoln smiles at the boy, "What about the rest of ya?"

Lexx speaks up, his face beaming with excitement, "Leif and I entered an Duel Tournament, an Entertainment Duel Tournament!" The twins follow up by raising their new duel disks- simply rings around their wrists.

The girl raises an eyebrow. "Uhh… what's that?"

"It means we had to put on a show while we played." Leif playfully punches his brother's arm. "My brother just loved showing off. You wouldn't believe how many times he got shot of his bird!"

"Haha, still, we won first prize!" Lexx tries to block the punches, but to no avail.

"That's great!" Linka smiles, her mind rushing towards what possible strategies they could've used to get the upper hand. "You two make a pretty great team!"

Loki then cuts in, "Well, since we needed some money to repair this bridge thing, I decided to take the a job performing for the Mayor's Daughter's Sweet Sixteen."

"Did it pay well?" Linka tilts her head.

"You kidding?!" Loki throws his head back in excitement, "It was awesome! I was allowed to do whatever I wanted, as long as I didn't set the place on fire! I could spin and do whatever and the crowd loved it!" The man throws his arms up in excitement!

"Just like you always do, bro!" Linka smiles at the thought. _"Just like you love to do. Heh, one day you're gonna make it in the military."_

"I on the other hand, have acquired a new type of action figure set for my collection." Levi cuts in, pulling out a set and Aleister and Glob Gal figures as he does so, "Soon, I will have them all!" He then hits them together as if having them fight.

"Cause you gotta catch 'em all bro!" Linka chuckles, before rubbing his head affectionately. "Just make sure to save the Glob Man figure for me, those are rare in my dimension!"

"Anything for you sis." Levi finishes, his voice filling with slight despair, before he regains his composure.

"Yeah, anything for you, even a kiss!" Mrs. Coconuts shouts, cutting the young boy off. Lane immediately turns to the wooden doll on his arm, "What?! She's my sis though!"

Mrs. Coconuts turns to the young man, "Whatever, I incest you take a moment to think of your life's choices and just how you ended up with me!"

A sinister smile appears on Lane's face, "Simple Mrs. Coconuts, I met you on the front lawn in front of a wood chipper."

The puppet's eyes go wide.

"If ya want, I'll throw you in the one that I rescued ya from, ya know, my treat!" Lane leans in close, the puppet trying desperately to back away, before shouting, "It's ok, you're the best sister ever Linka!"

Linka can't help but laugh at Lane's acting, "You've gotten better at it Lane!"

"Makin' my sister laugh is the only motivation I need!" Lane and Mrs. Coconuts take a bow with that.

"Well I made a new dress for a contest this week!" Loni proceeds to hold up a multi-colored dress with a white top, light blue center and blow oversized skirt bottom. The entire thing is covered in wings and feathers, almost as if an angel would be the one wearing it. Plus, it has two winds on the back, those these seem disconnected, and simply float behind.

"Wow Loni! If I were really still a girl, I'd love to wear it!" Linka takes the dress in her arms, and quickly puts it on, "Oh wait, I look like one!" Quickly, a cloud of dust overtakes the girl, before she appears wearing the dress.

"Heh, It looks great on ya sis!" Loni cheerfully begins to adjust the darn thing, just as he had done with her for just a few days. "There."

Linka poses with the dress for a quick moment, before promptly taking it off and handing it back to its creator. "Heh, I guess that's-"

"Hey! Don't forget me!" Lynn walks in and does a triple flip, "I've been working on getting that right all week!"

"It's 'bout time Lynn!" Linka quips, "you've been putting off practicing that for like, a month!"

"Well hey." The boy shrugs, "I had stuff to do and most of it involved helpin' ya." He then smiles and playfully punches her arm.

The girl simply smiles, before turning towards Luke, "What abut you?"

Luke immediately sets up his guitar and starts to sing, "From starry to solar, we're runnin' all over. We travel the speed of light and beyond. Our future is loadin' the doorway is showin' what we want, when you're in the vrains, you can't be guessin' about, no matter what remains, all of the circuitry's connecting where we route. It hooks us up to break a new bound…" The young man looks into his sister's eyes, "No access your strength to brave the data storm, riding with the wind, your heart's linkin' up to more. Gusts can try to knock you down, but you'll win the race- connecting as in resound. When you are falling, when life has you crawling, the impossible can win. Trust in the future, it's never a rumor. It's waiting with the wind!"

And with that, he finishes, "Thanks for everything… Lincoln."

"That sounded amazing Luke." Linka nods, "And thanks for everything you gave me." She continues to talk for a moment, trying to sort as Leon crawls over and tugs at her dress. "Heh, you wanna say goodbye too huh?" She takes the young boy in her arms.

"Poo-poo!" He goes, before gently hugging the girl. "Link-a!"

" _He's gonna grow up without a sister…"_ Linka sorrowfully thinks, before returning the boy's embrace, "Be good, don't ya hear?"

Leon nods, Grabbing at the girl as he does so.

After that, Ron Andy, Cristina, Claudia and Chandler walk over, with Ron Andy holding his arms crossed.

"So, do you mind being a girl again?" Claudia tilts her head in curiosity.

Linka shrugs, "Eh, after six months as a girl, being one again for a few minutes is still less awkward than it would have been if I'd been a guy." She then looks at the three, and glances at the Latino boy, "Plus it means I can do this."

Without warning, the young woman grabs Ron Andy by the collar and pulls him into a soft kiss.

Immediately, the boys and parents start taking photos, though immediately put their phones away before anyone can notice what they're doing.

She lets go a moment later, leaving both of them blushing.

"Sorry… I wanted to feel what that was like this way round one last time." She rubs the back of her head. "Since, ya know…"

Yet, Ron Andy waves her off, "No, no, it's fine." He rubs the back of his head as well, "I just uhh… you know."

"Heh, don't worry about it." Linka chuckles, "Besides, I'm think I know about someone who'd love to spend time with you now that I'm gone."

"Who?" Ron Andy raises an eyebrow in curiosity.

The girl nudges over, her eyes motioning at Chandler.

Both of them blush, before looking away awkwardly.

After that, Linka turns to Claudia and Cristopher. "Hey guys."

"So… I guess this is goodbye huh?" The dark-skinned girl sorrowfully goes.

Linka shrugs, "Not sure. All I do know is that, you were a great friend."

"Heh, I can say the same about you." The girl counters, "I mean, hadn't you come, I'd probably still be stuck with…" She gulps, "… you know who."

"Plus, because of you, she and I started dating!" Cristopher cuts in, his voice filling with excitement.

The white-haired girl simply smiles, before looking at the boy, "You take care of her, all right." She looks back at Claudia, "She's my best friend."

And with that, Cristopher nods.

After that, Linka steps back and shouts, "Thanks for everything guys."

"And thanks for everything Lincoln!" Everyone shouts, before all coming together into one, final, group hug.

"I'll do my best to visit." Linka whispers.

"Don't worry about it." Loki responds, "All we want you to do is to be good Lincoln, be brilliant."

"And take care of yourself." Lynn Sr. adds. "Be well… my wayward daughter."

And with that, the portal disappears, taking their sister along with it. Now, normally, the Loud Boys wouldn't show that much emotion. After all, they had been conditioned since birth to make sure that they take care of their sister. And yet, even they can't help, but tear up at the mere idea of what had just happened.

* * *

Linka too, can't help but tear up once she's out of sight. *Sniffle*

"Lincoln…" Lori walks over and places her hand on the young boy currently disguised as a young girl.

The girl quickly wipes the tears from her eyes, before tapping away at her Holo-Gear. _**"Disguise generator deactivated"**_ And with that, Lincoln returns to his original form.

"So, how did it go?" Luna asks, quietly strumming her guitar as she does so. "From the looks of it, very well."

"Yeah! We like, really wanna know!" Leni shouts, followed by the rest of the girls joining in.

"Girls! Calm down!" Lori commands, the air in the room fill with the harsh order, "Lincoln just had to say goodbye to people that were really important to him. Give him some room."

The girls comply, while Lori takes a knee in front of him, "So, how about we go get a snack? I'm sure if we go to the chocolate factory, we'll be able to cheer ya up!" She stands up, "What do ya think, Lincoln?"

Lincoln thinks for a moment, before nodding, "Sure Lori, I think I'd like that."

And with that, everyone walks out of the room and heads out the door.

 _ **A Few Minutes Later…**_

Now with their parents joining them, they drive to the chocolate factory- a quaint building just on the outskirts of town. Despite what many would believe, the town of Royal Woods remains trafficless, even though the beginning of summer is upon them.

"Ok, we're here!" Rita declares, looking back at her eleven children as she does so, "So how are you all feelin'?"

"We're all right, mom." Lynn shouts, before opening the side door, "Now let's go get some chocolate!"

"Be careful kids!" Lynn Sr. shouts, "We don't wanna have to make a trip to the ER again!" He laughs as he watches his children quickly hop out of the family van he had held for so many years, before he turns to his wife, "What about-" He starts… only to realize that his wife has run off with the children, "Ahh, to live in a family of chocoholics. He laughs and sits back in the driver's seat chair.

* * *

"So what type of chocolate do ya want?" The worker asks, "We've got a huge selection, from vanilla to dark to cherry!"

Without hesitation, Lincoln raises his voice, "I wanna bar of white chocolate please!"

"Are you sure you only want one?" The man raises an eyebrow. "I mean, this is a chocolate factory after all!"

"Actually…" Lincoln rubs his chin.

A few minutes after that, Lincoln sits in one of the oversized chairs the store had provided, with a small pile of chocolate resting in front of him.

"Wow Linc, that's a lot of chocolate for one little dude." Luna nonchalantly takes a bite out of her dark chocolate candy bar.

Without hesitation, Lincoln replies, "Well… to be fair I'm buying my own from now on. I think without the ten of ya to space it out, I got the full concentration of chocolate addiction back in dimension sixty-three."

"What?!" Lola jumps on the table, "Prove it!"

Lincoln chuckles, crossing his arms as he does so, "Are you challenging me to a chocolate eating contest?"

Lola nods, "Yeah! There's no way our brother can eat more chocolate than us!"

The young man throws his head back in laughter, "Haha! Well then, if you insist…" He looks at the other girls, "Do you girls wanna join in too? The more the merrier after all!"

"You know what…" Lana jumps on the table next to her twin, "I'm in, just cause I wanna see you puke!"

"If they're in, then I'll choc this all up to luck!" Luan puns.

Luna chuckles, "Then let's make a Chocolate Rain!"

"Are you sure you wanna do this sweetie?" Rita speaks up, "I mean, just because I gave birth to all of you, doesn't mean you can handle the amount of chocolate these girls can take."

Lincoln nods, "I'll take you all on!"

The rest of the girls talk amongst themselves for a moment, before nodding in agreement.

"All right then." Rita smiles, "Then the contest starts, now!" And with that, the family starts digging into their piles of chocolate!

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Lincoln sits back, a content smile on his face while he playfully pats his belly… with his plate of chocolate not only empty, but the girls having plates with chocolate left over.

Lola looks up at her brother and groans, "How is this possible?!"

"Like, literally how?!" Lori adds, "Bobby's gonna be annoyed…"

Lisa forces herself back and pulls out a pen and notebook, "This doesn't make any sense! You just ate more chocolate than ten chocoholics combined! By sheer volume you have just consumed, there should be chocolate running out of every oriface in your face! And that's if you didn't explode!"

The rest of the girls give similar sentiment with that, though Rita puts a stop to it with, "Girls… just let it go. Right now, I just don't want to know where he puts it! I'm just grateful he took that paper route to pay for it." She chuckles, "Plus, the moment you girls find out, no doubt you'd consume more chocolate than the US produces in a single year."

Yet, despite the warning, Lori still shouts, "No! Please! Tell us! We have to know!"

Lincoln shakes his head, "Give it a rest Lori. You'll find out when you're worthy of it."

Lola follows up the girl with, "No! Please, we'll do anything!"

"You just made chocolate rain darker!" Luan puns, before flaring her arms, "Please Lincoln you just gotta!"

The athletic sister, despite what many would say about mixing sports and chocolate, still shouts, "Tell us the secret to eating more chocolate!"

Luna then strums her guitar and shouts, "Tell us!"

"Girls, that's enough!" Rita points to the van, "It's time to go home."

And so, begrudgingly, the girls file back into the family van and they drive off once more.

A few minutes on the road pass by, before the girls stop begging Lincoln for the secret to his chocolate-eating powers, and instead start talking about whatever random topic they can come up with… though Lynn Sr. is the one to grab all of their attention with, "Hey girls, 'Bring Your Daughter To Work Day' is comin' up soon!"

" _Dangit."_ Lincoln sighs, rather loudly to boot.

"Is something wrong Lincoln?" Lynn Sr. nervously asks.

The boy waves him off, "It's nothing I guess..."

The man breathes a sigh of relief

Yet, the white-haired boy still continues, "Except maybe you girls she try not to go so over the limit having fun at dads office that so Mr. Boonsfield said he'd fire dad if he surprised him with any more kids to tear up the office with..."

The van fills with silence.

Lincoln rubs the back of his head, "Though he does have a soft spot for babies so that's probably why he's let you bring Lily. Heh he probably thinks that if you had a boy that I'd be worse than all the girls put together."

"Welp!" Rita claps her hands together, "When we get back to the house I'd like you to all go up to your rooms and put on those headphones Lincoln bought us. I need to speak to your father!"

And with that, when they get back to the house they do just that.

* * *

"Heh…" Lincoln goes as he walks into his room once more. He quickly looks around for a moment, before pulling out a small bag filled with assorted chocolate snacks, "Heh don't eat them all or else…"

"Whatcha doin' bro?" Lori asks as she walks into the boy's room.

"Nothing much." He nonchalantly pulls out a set of boxes, "Just working on my P-week kits."

"P-week?" Lori tilts her head.

Lincoln then takes the chocolate and starts dividing it into the containers, "They're boxes designed to help you girls deal with your 'time of the month'." He then turns, grabs the box labeled "Lori" and hands it to the girl. "It has some preserved chocolate rations, your favorite movies, tissues, feminine hygiene stuff, and an offer for me to spend time with you. I made one for everyone, even Lucy, Lisa, Lana, Lola and Lily… when they start of course."

Lori looks at the set up for a moment, and simply laughs, "Haha! I appreciate the gesture, but what makes you think you know anything about a girl's period?"

Lincoln crosses his arms, "One week of every month for the past six months, I would bleed out of a sensitive part of my body, feel bloated, hungry and angry for no reason. My emotions would flip on the drop of a coin and I ended up having to spend time with the girl version of Bobby just to have someone to help me through it all!" Lincoln takes the box from his elder sister, "So yeah, I think I know what I'm talking about."

"Still, I don't think-" Lori starts… only for Lincoln to cut her off with, "I have six pints of cookie dough in the freezer, _'The Notebook'_ waiting in the DVD player and bought us all snuggies.

The older girl stands by, awestruck for a moment, before shaking her head, "I will force Ronnie Anne to marry you if I have to."

Lincoln chuckles at the idea, "Speaking of her, are they here yet?"

*Ding* *Dong* the door goes.

The young man smiles, "Heh, well that's some good timing." He then finishes up with the boxes and shoves them back in their hiding place, before rushing out of the room, leaving Lori alone.

He quickly rushes down the stairs and opens the door for his friends with, "Hey guys!"

Clyde, Cristina and Ronnie Anne stand by, each with smiles on their faces.

"Hey Lincoln." Clyde holds onto Cristina tightly, "How are ya feelin'? We heard today was they you said goodbye to, well, everyone you met."

Lincoln waves him off, "I'm fine, really I am." He then looks back for a moment, before stepping out the door and closing it behind him.

Clyde smiles, "Awesome."

"He Linc, how'd you know we'd like being in a relationship?" Cristina asks, turning to Clyde as she does so.

Lincoln rubs the back of his head, "Well… your counterpart in dimension 63 loved each other, so I thought, why not, let's try it here." He then turns to the girl, "Hey Ronnie Anne."

The Latino girl smiles back, "Welcome back Lincoln." She playfully punches his arm, "How are ya-"

The boy cuts her off by putting a finger on her lips, "Excuse me Ronnie Anne. I need to check something, one more time."

"Wha-" The girl starts.

Yet, before she can finish, Lincoln pulls her in close and kisses her full on the lips. Her leg pops up instinctually as they throw their arms around each other. A moment passes with that, before they break off, leaving the girl with a dopey grin, and a happy one on the boy's.

" _Heh, Linka really was wrong."_ Lincoln cheerfully thinks, "Heh, Dead fish my arse."

The girl's eyes go wide in shock, "Who're you callin' a-"

Yet, before she can finish, Lincoln kisses her again.

A few feet away, Clyde and Cristina look at each other, then look away, blushing as they do so. Finally, they look at each other again before shrugging and kissing each other as well. Albeit much shorter than their friends.

"You know what, I won't question it." Ronnie Anne cheerfully lets go and starts walking down the road. Everyone follows with that. "After all, I think I've learned to just take what happens and just keep goin'."

"So where are we headed Lincoln?" Clyde nonchalantly asks, his arm wrapped firmly around Cristina's.

The boy rubs his chin, "Well, we could go the Gus' Games and Grub. They've got great pizza, and cheap too!" He looks at his friends, what do you guys think?"

Cristina shrugs, "Sure, I don't mind."

Clyde continues, "Neither do I."

Ronnie Anne playfully punches his arm, "Heh, I'm gonna freak ya in Dance Dance Evolution when we get there."

"Haha!" Lincoln laughs, "As if! One of the hunters was awesome at dancing so I learned a trick or two from them!"

"Heh." Ronnie Anne goes, "Challenge accepted."

"By the way Linc, how's life been since you got back? I mean it has been a week." Clyde asks, the boy coming up on Lincoln's side as he does so.

"Lincoln rubs his chin, "Well, let's get the hardest part out of the way. I have absolutely no idea what happened to the hunters."

"What?!" Clyde shouts, "But those guys helped us so much!"

Lincoln shrugs, "I know, but after remaking the dimensions, they didn't appear as part of my options…"

Ronnie Anne slaps his back. "Don't sweat it Linc, I'm sure they're just fine."

"I hope so…" Lincoln sighs, "As for the girls, well. They've been uncharacteristically quiet."

"What do you mean?" Cristina asks.

"I mean, they're not bothering to annoy me like usual. It's almost like they're worried that I'm gonna leave again and stuff." Lincoln rubs the back of his head, unsure of just what to make of his current situation.

"Well, after you left and ended up having to deal with a crazy version of yourself that wanted to end the multiverse just to bring back his sister, well, it's understandable."

"Still, its hard to see Lola actually staying quiet when I talk, or Luan making a good pun." Lincoln goes, "But after everything that's happened, well, I'm sure I'll ever be leaving these guys, ever again."

"That's good." Ronnie Anne smiles, "Now how about you tell us about the other dimension! I mean, we don't know anything about it besides almost everyone was genderswapped!"

Lincoln rubs his chin, "Well, I'm really not sure what else I can say. The girls were boys and all the boys I knew were girls. My dad in the alt dimension was a big toughie, but I knew just how to get him to calm down. The hunters were crazy, but I could deal with em."

"So Lincoln, if you could do it again, would you?" Clyde leans in. The game shack comes into view at this point.

Lincoln rubs his chin. "Well… if I've learned anything, you've gotta make the most of your time." He looks at his three friends, "And well, I don't think I'd do anything differently.

"That's great, Linc." Ronnie Anne smiles.

And with that, the quartet walks into the gaming lounge.

 _ **Later…**_

Lincoln lies down upon the old bed he calls his own. Soft moonlight filters through the rounded window, illuminating the linen closet bedroom once more.

"Well. After six months, I'm finally home." He sits up, with his head facing the nearby wall… though an outside observer would see it as him looking straight at them, "and well… I'm happy and all… but I can't help but feel like I made a mistake… like I shouldn't have just let the boys go…"

He chuckles, "Still… I'm sure they're fine. After all…" Lincoln looks out, into the night sky just outside his room, "All I did was help them move on, they did the rest." And with that, he lies down. Despite the night house being ever so quiet, he can't help but listen in carefully, allowing the noise generated by those familiar siblings to fill his weary mind.

And with that, he whispers, "I'm home…"

6-9-14-1-12-12-25, 1-6-20-5-18 8-9-19 12-15-14-7 10-15-21-18-14-5-25 8-15-13-5 6-18-15-13 20-18-15-25, 15-4-25-19-19-5-21-19 8-1-19 18-5-20-21-18-14-5-4 8-15-13-5.

4-9-13-5-14-19-9-15-14 19-9-24-20-25 20-8-18-5-5 9-19 1-23-5-19-15-13-5, 2-21-20 19-15 9-19 4-9-13-5-14-19-9-15-14 3 15-14-5 20-8-18-5-5 19-5-22-5-14.

 **A/N And with that, epilogue 1 is done ! Don't worry, if you didn't enjoy this interpretation of the ending, there are still 2 more to go! I wonder if anyone can guess what's gonna happen in them!**

 **Anyways, I thank Insane Master Writer Studio and Wolvenstrom for all their help!**

 **Credit for Luke's Song: JorporXx (Mark de Groot)'s (YouTube) Cover of The Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains Opening**


	37. My New Home

**A/N Welcome to the second ending for this story! Why do I have multiple you ask? Simple. Because while I favored one, I had multiple ideas for how to end this story! I hope you enjoy!**

 **R &R!**

 **Story Summary/Prompt: Lincoln stays in dimension 63.**

Epilogue Two: My New Home

"Come on guys!" A young, white-haired girl cheerfully skips along, with her three friends following closely behind. "At the rate you're goin' we're never gonna get to the game shop before it closes, ya slowpokes!"

"Haha! Linka, wait up!" Ron Andy chases after the girl, though given his slow pace, it's obvious he's just letting the girl have some fun. "Plus, that's offensive to Pokémon!"

"Hurry up then!" The young girl's voice echoes cheerfully in the mid-day air, as she devolves her step, allowing her friends to finally catch up. "If you don't hurry, the Games and Dance Club is gonna close!"

Ron Andy, of course, is the first to catch up. Given his heavy breathing, it's obvious he's out of breath, not that he'd let Linka see him like that, "Heh, you're really excited huh?"

Linka flares her arms at the boy, "Of course I am! It's the first time in weeks where I haven't had to worry about some crazy inter-dimensional beings trying to end the world or something like that!"

*Pant* Claudia is the next to catch up, "Hey, heh, guys, heh, please stop for a sec!" She stops and holds her knees for a moment, desperate to catch her breath. "You're, going too fast. *Pant* this is the most running I've done all year!"

"What about the time you had to run from my crazed brothers?" Linka chuckles, "You had to run way more that day then at all today.

Quickly, Claudia counters, "That was different! And last year!"

"Yeah!" Cristopher finally joins the group… only to let his upper body go limp as well, "You, *pant* haven't even told us why you're so excited!"

The girl shrugs, "What? Can't a girl just try to have a good time hanging out with her best friends in the world?" eh then turns and motions for them to follow, "Now come on, we're burnin' daylight!"

"Girl, I know you well enough, even better than the real Linka, to know that you're trying to hide something." Claudia shakes her head, before staring at the girl, "So what's botherin' ya Link?"

"Nothing's borthin' me Clauds." Linka waves her off, "I'm just excited about enjoying a completely normal-"

"Normal is overrated Linka." Ron Andy shoves his hands in his hoodie and looks at the girl with a soft smile, "But she does have a point, what's going on with ya? You're usually more… talkative about what's going on with your life."

Cristopher then cuts in, "Plus, you really haven't told us what happened when you reset the world and stuff! How'd it feel to have infinite, world-changing power in the palm of your hands?!"

Linka can't help but stare at Cristopher for a moment, _"It wasn't like what you think it's like really."_ Though, she simply shakes her head and holds her hands in front of her, I'm all right guys! I'm all right." She gives an awkward chuckle and motions away from herself, "It's not like I'm still very conflicted about what's happened in the past few days and I just wanna stay calm!"

Ron Andy chuckles, "Heh, well if that's the case, I guess we should just ask Loni!" He glances at the other two, "What do you guys think? Ask the one brother that'll spill the beans on everything?!"

Linka's stops in her tracks, _"Dangit. I really gotta teach Loni how to keep secrets better!"_ Before she stares at her three friends, "You wouldn't."

Claudia shakes her head, "If you're not gonna tell us what's wrong then we'll have no choice."

Cristopher comes up on her opposite side, "Now come on, it'll only help if you tell us what's goin' on. You haven't been too open since the reset… heck!" He flares his arms up, "This is the first time you're hangin' out with us!"

"I dunno…" Linka's voice trails off. _"They wouldn't understand… would they? I mean, none of them had the ability to control space-time itself…"_

Yet, Ron Andy simply walks up to her and places a hand on the young woman's shoulder, "Come on Linka, I'm your boyfriend and these are our best friends. You can tell us anything." The young man looks the young woman in the eyes, "Please Linka. For me."

" _I could never deny those eyes…"_ Linka takes a deep breath and sighs. "All right, I'll spill." She looks at her friends with hope-filled eyes, "I'm just confused and conflicted, ya know." She then turns around, "Come on, I'll tell ya on the way."

"All right Linka." Claudia then steps forward, with Ron Andy and Cristopher following soon after.

" _Should I even bother telling them everything?"_ Linka holds her arms limply at her sides, before looking up, allowing the soft summer heat to engulf her body.

For a moment, the four friends simply walk along. It is as if the events of the past few months hold no weight upon them, while at the same time, everything can't help but feel… different.

"So what do you mean Linka?" Ron Andy speaks with a soft, caring voice, "I'm sure there's nothing you could've done to get you… you know, super confused and stuff."

The girl can't help but respond, "I'm Lincoln from dimension C-137." Her voice fills with an uncertain fear, "And I've decided to live here rather than go home."

Claudia shrugs, "We know that, I mean, actually bearable and willing to spend time with us?!" She motions at the white-haired girl with both hands, "The real Linka wouldn't even bother to talk to us! Let along invite us out for a day at Gos' Games and Dance Club!"

Cristopher smiles and motions just as Claudia had done, "Yeah! We don't need you telling us what we already know!"

Link remains silent; mentally kicking herself for thinking her friends wouldn't have already realized what had happened when she didn't start acting like a raving arse towards them. _"Right… I'm not thinking…"_

Ron Andy glances at the girl and shakes his head, before stepping in front of his partner and motioning for her to stop, "Linka, would it help if we just stopped to talk about it for a sec?" He places a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I mean, you do live in a Loud House with ten Loud Brothers."

" _Well… I haven't really talked about it much… I mean…"_ She looks up at the boy, _"But will they understand? I mean I've been dating him for months now… and he's shown that he's the best boyfriend a girl could have…"_ She then glances at her other two friends, _"And they've stuck with me even though they knew I wasn't the real Linka…"_

He Speaks with a soft, reassuring voice, "I know it'll be hard to talk about, but I'm sure we'll understand. Now come on, what's goin' on with ya?"

And so, with a soft sigh, Linka looks around for a quick moment, allowing her to spot a medium-sized oak tree. Its leaves providing a small amount of shade for any who would choose to rest underneath "How about I tell ya over there?"

"Sure." Ron Andy smiles, followed by Claudia and Cristopher nodding in agreement. And with that, the trio takes their seats within the tree's shade.

With her three friends watching her every move, the young, white-haired girl takes a deep breath, "Well… I guess I'll just dive straight into it huh?"

Ron Andy nods, "Yeah, tell us everything."

"How about, what happened after you chose to live here!" Cristopher cuts in, "I'm sure that's gonna be the best part!"

Claudia nudges the boy, "Heh, yeah, I think that'd work too."

"All right then." Linka takes a deep breath, "Well… After I reset the world…"

* * *

" _Ok… it's been a day since you talked to Ethioth and reset everything. The Shadowman is now living with his sister and Linka's living with the family she deserves."_ The young, white-haired woman, takes a deep breath, _"You can do this. You can do this… why does this hurt so much?"_

Yet, rather than continue to ponder the question, she simply takes one more deep breath and pushes her way into the room.

"Levi!" Loki shouts, "How are your calculations goin'? From the looks of it, the computer's managed to find the exact location of dimension C-137." The young man turns towards the scientist, "But I'm not sure if this is real thing!"

"My calculations are complete!" Levi responds, causing the boys to cheer in excitement.

"All right Levi, what should the display numbers be?" Loki's voice trembles as if both excitement and fear are filling his body.

Carefully, Levi reads the results, "The numbers there should be… One Zero Seven."

Loki quickly scans the results and smiles, "All right, this is it!"

"Hey guys." Linka greets, prompting the boys to turn to her in surprise.

"Hey Linka!" Luke walks up to the young woman, "How are you doin'?"

"I'm all right Luke." She looks passed the musician and at her scientist brother, "Is everything ready, Levi?"

The four-year-old nods, "Yeah, it's completely set up." He turns towards the young woman, "All you need to do is hit this red button and the portal will stabilize, allowing you to step through for a few moments.

Linka takes a deep breath, "All right then guys, I'll take it from here."

"You want us to stay?" Luke takes a knee in front of the girl, "You are… well… you know."

For a moment, the white-haired girl thinks about the idea the idea, _"They'd definitely help out… but…"_ She glances at her brothers, each other them looking on with an excited anticipation, _"I don't want them to think that they're forcing me to stay with them…"_ And so she sighs and shakes her head, "No, this is something I gotta do alone." She looks the young man in the eyes, "Please, let me be alone."

"What?!" Lexx steps forward, "But we barely know them!"

Leif comes to his side, "Yeah! What if they go crazy like… the real you did!"

"I have to agree." Lars suddenly appears at Linka's side, "After seeing how they acted when they first got you back, I think it'd be a good idea if we went with you." He holds up his writing journal, "I've seen scenarios like-"

"Enough!" Loki commands, "If Linka believes that this is something she has to do alone, then let her do it alone! Boys, out, now!" Immediately, the Loud Boys rush out of the room, desperate as to not incur the wrath of their eldest brother.

"This is all you." Loki looks at the girl with a knowing gaze, "Good luck Linka."

"Thanks Loki…" The girl's voice trails off.

Loki nods with that, before walking out of the room, leaving Linka alone to face the portal home.

" _Well… here I go."_ She takes a deep breath and stretches out her arm to meet the gate. Soft late emanates from the portal for a moment, before she quickly passes through, allowing her to appear in a room similar to the one she was just in… only with a certain ten girls waiting for her.

"It worked…" Lisa whispers, as her gaze falls upon their inter-dimensional visitor.

An uncharacteristic silence quickly overtakes the room, with no one sure just how to react.

And so, it is their visitor that has to break the ice with, "Hey guys…" she awkwardly waves her hand. "What'd I miss?"

Then, before anyone else can react, the ten girls shout, "Lincoln!" before jumping at the girl, with a random, garbled mess of greetings following.

"I can't believe you're back!" Lisa shouts, breaking her typical demaeanor.

"I missed ya so much bro!" Lana goes, while her twin adds, "Yeah! Lana's been trying to get me to help feed her pets for the past two days!"

"Mr. Coconuts has been saving up white hair jokes for you!" Luan goes, before she talks through her puppet, "They're **a-hair-zing!** "

"This is literally the best moment ever!" Lori shouts.

Lynn joins in by punching the young girl's arm, "Just cause you're a girl right now bro, doesn't mean I can't still punch ya!"

"Yo, chill out guys, just cause…" Luna starts, only to cut herself off with, "Ahh to 'ell with it!" She joins in, "Welcome home!"

"Like, I made the cutest thing for you to wear!" Leni then tries to pull out her newest creation… only to realize that a massive mess of sisters isn't the best place to do so.

"Ok girls, ok! I missed you too!" The young girl shouts, as she desperately tries to break free of the girls keeping her down. "Help! I can't breathe!"

"Haha! Ok, ok! Give her some space girls!" Lori voice fills with a joyful command, before she easily pushes her sisters aside.

"Heh, it's only been a day and you're super jumpy huh?" Linka dusts herself off, "What's goin' on?"

"Well, you haven been gone for six months, so everyone's just excited to see you finally come home." Lori explains with a soft smile, "And since everything's doin' just fine over here, we really wanna know, how are you doin'?"

"Ooh, I'm fine. The boys are treatin' me real well" She awkwardly rubs the back of her head, "Even though they now know I'm not their real sister." She can't help but chuckle at the idea, "Heh, I guess I'm just one of the boys to them now."

"That's great Lincoln!" Leni cuts in, "Like, maybe I'll be able to make you and those boys matching outfits!" Her face goes red, "Maybe I'll even be able to make some clothes for that hunk I made a dress with!"

"Haha." Linka laughs, "Don't worry Leni, I'm sure Loni wouldn't mind making another dress with you sometime soon."

"I sure hope so!" She then pulls out a small, red dress with several colored orbs decorating its belt, as well as golden trim around its edges and a red cape. "Plus, would you try this on later? I call this the Double Iris Dress!"

"Heh, sure Leni." She turns to the rest of the girls, "So what have the rest of you been up to? I've been gone for a while after all."

"I've started to get into welding!" Lana immediately shoves her hands in her overall pocket and pulls out a completed section of piping I think it ooks good if I do say so myself!"

"Hmm, let me see." Lincoln steps over and takes the device in his hands, "Hmm, it looks great so far Lana! You even remembered that the joints needed to be sealed too!"

"Well, you taught me yourself bro!" The young plumber takes the device back, before walking away, allowing her twin sister to step forward.

"I, on the other hand, have decided to enlist your help in pageants more often." She motions towards herself, "I found out that there are several brother-sister pageants coming up soon, and since you mentioned participating and almost winning your first pageant, I'm sure you'd be a great partner!"

Linka places a hand on the young girl's shoulder, _"Should I? No… I'll tell them after… let them enjoy this moment…."_ Then, looking into the pageant queen's eyes, she responds, "I'd love to do that Lola, let's beat everyone together!"

"Eeeee!" Lola squeals, before throwing her arms around the girl, "Thanks Lincoln! I just know we're gonna win!"

"First, he's going to help me with my poetry." Lucy suddenly appears next to the duo, causing Lola to jump back in surprise, "Gahh!" Though Linka doesn't flinch at the sight. "I heard being trapped in a body you don't belong in makes for good emotional tension.

Linka stands up and runs her hand through Lucy's long, black hair, "Yeah, it does Lucy…" She smiles, "I'd love to tell you about my time like this."

"First he'd have to survive the comedy routine I've set up for him!" Luan cuts in, with Mr. Coconuts resting on her hand. Quickly, she starts speaking through the puppet, "You should know by now, that Mrs. Coconuts and I are in no way related! So what if we got divorced and set my pants on fire!"

The white-haired girl stares at the puppet for a moment, prompting him to reply, "What? I'm not a liar!"

"Haha!" Luan throws her head back in amusement, "Thanks for that Lincoln." She rubs the girl's hair with that, "And there'll be plenty more comin' after that!"

"Heh, yeah, plenty." Linka pushes into the girl's hand, allowing her heat to overtake her head for a short moment… only for Lisa to walk in and cut the moment off, "I believe you are the perfect test subject for a new study I am planning a beginning."

Linka moves away from Luan and turns to the four-year-old, "What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said." Lisa pulls out a small notebook and begins flipping through the pages, "You are the first being in our dimension to not only travel between realities, but to also replace the version of yourself that exists there… as well as experience life as both a true male and a true female." She looks up at the young woman, "You experiences will serve to benefit mankind!"

"Look, Lisa, while I'd like to-"Linka starts, only for Lynn to cut in with, "Whatever! I saw the boy version of me was great on his feet, and while I was talkin' to him, he told me that he taught you all his tricks!" She smiles and grabs the girl's shoulders, "I need you to teach me everything you know!"

"Ok, ok!" Linka holds her arms up defensively, "I'll teach you when I can!" Though she can't help but think, _"Yeah… but will the time ever come is the question…"_

"Hey! You're forgettin' me!" Luna shouts, before raising her guitar, "Lincoln, you gotta listen to the rad song I worked on while you were gone!"

"Heh, all right Luna!" He points at the young musician, "Rock it!"

Then, with soft, yet quick strums, she begins to sing, "Come and fly away with me! Come and fly away with me. Come and fly away with me! Co-co-come and fly away with me." Her rhythm speeds up, while her voice fills with hope, "Don't you be afraid, everything will change, you and I." She looks up at the white-haired girl. "Jumping off the edge, they say dreamers never die. So, come and fly, come and fly, come and fly away with me!" Her beat slows down once more, "We're rising, we're falling, we'll make it through. We're climbing, we're soaring, something's gonna bring a change. Journeys we are meant to take. Something at the edge of space. Calling us to fly away ." And with that, she strums one last time.

"Wow." Linka smiles, "That was amazing Luna!"

Luna rubs the back of her head, "Well, I wanted to make something nice for you to hear before you came home."

"Heh well you did a great job with that." Linka can't help but chuckle.

"Speaking of coming home." Lori walks over to the young girl, "When're you comin' back?" She holds her hands up at her sides, "Everyone's wonderin' ya know."

" _Well I guess there's no hiding it now huh?"_ Linka sighs in defeat, "Girls… I need you all to stay calm for a bit… please."

Lori tilts her head, "Why's that Linc? You're coming home right?"

Lily crawls over and tugs at the girl's leg, "Poo-poo!"

" _Please don't make this harder than it needs to be Lily…"_ Linka takes another deep breath, "Guys… I've decided to stay with the boys as their sister."

Immediately, the room's tense order breaks down, causing a flurry of confusion to overtake them all.

"What?! Why?!" The twins shout in unison, given their tone, they sound like they're at the verdge of tears.

Lucy and Lisa remain silent, though it's obvious that they're trying to remain calm, while Luan and Leni remaining silent, most likely due to shock.

As for Lynn, Luna and Lori simply stare at the white-haired girl, each sporting an expression of anger.

" _This isn't going as well as I thought…"_ Linka puts on a sheepish smile, "You guys all right?"

"No!" Lynn shouts before grabbing the girl's shirt, "We had to deal with an annoying arse of girl as our brother for six months! And now you're tellin' us that you're not comin' home! What gives?!"

"We literally cut a portal in space-time just to bring you back!" Lori adds, flaring her arms as she does so, before she relaxes them and raises her fists, "I am gonna turn you into a human pretzel!"

"Yeah! We worked so hard trying to help ya out that Lori actually used 'literally' properly!" Luna then raises her base, as if prepared to use it like an actual axe, "Love, why aren't you coming home?!"

Linka grabs her arm awkwardly, "Because girls… you don't really need me."

"What?!" Lynn leans closer to the girl, "Ever since you left, I've been having a terrible time trying to practice for my games!"

"Yeah! Like, no one's around to help me put on my make-up!" Leni cuts in. "I always end up getting it on the wrong side!"

"And no one's around to laugh at my jokes!" Luan speaks through Mr. Coconuts.

"And I haven't been able to properly fix anything without you!" Lana rushes closer to the girl, while Lola steps next to her, "And Lindsey Sweetwater has been getting closer and closer to me without you around!"

This is immediately followed by yet another cloud of confusion.

Linka motions for the girls to calm down however, "Girls, stop it!" Her voice echoes in the small room, causing her sisters to quiet down for a short moment.

"Let me explain." She takes a deep breath. "Please."

"Please do." Lola crosses her arms, "Because from the sound of it, you're leaving us for a better family!" The girls follow her lead and cross their arms as well.

" _Just stay calm Linka, everything's gonna be all right."_ The young woman looks at the annoyed expressions of her siblings for a moment, before taking a deep breath, "Girls, I'm staying with these boys because they need me."

"We need you too!" Lisa desperately breaks her stoic demeanor, "Ever since you disappeared, I have been unable to limit the destruction my experiments cause! I almost destroyed the house several times!"

"You don't need me for that Lisa." Linka turns to the young girl and takes a knee, "You just gotta remember that you don't live alone."

"Please don't leave Lincoln!" Lola falls on her knees and holds her arms up to her. "We need you!"

"Yeah!" Lana adds, "Who gonna help me feed my pets?!"

"Girls, I know this is hard…." The young girl starts to tear up, "But this is for the best, it really is."

"How?!" Luan break in, "I know we haven't always treated you as well as we should've, but that doesn't mean you can just up and go whatever you want!" She then speaks through her puppet, "Now that's not cool!"

Lucy can't help but begin to break through her stoic demeanor, "Didn't you just go through an entire adventure trying to call someone out for abandoning their family because it was convenient for them?"

Linka wipes the tears forming under her eyes, "Girls, stop it, please." She glances at her sisters for a moment, "This isn't easy for me either."

"Then why are you going?!" Lori shouts, "You're our brother! We need you!"

With a soft, knowing smiles, she looks up at the elder girl and shakes her head, "You guys don't need me. If anything, I needed you." She looks passed the girl and takes a moment to glance at her friends standing in the doorway, with all three remaining silent, "The fact that you were able to get to me proves it." She then turns and picks the baby off the floor, "You guys always made me feel special. And I was a fool for thinking that I wasn't." She then turns and hands Lily to Luan, "But now's time for me to help the people that need me the most."

With determination and hope filling her voice, she looks into her sister's eyes, "I needed you girls in the same way the boys need their sister. You guys helped me to grow, learn and get passed everything. And they need me to help them get passed what they've been through.

"But Lincoln!" Luna tries to start, yet, Lincoln motions for her to stop.

"Please girls, don't make this harder than it needs to be." Soft tears begin to stream down her cheeks, "Please…"

And so, wordlessly, the girls come together and hung the young girl once more.

"Take care of yourself Lincoln." Lori whispers, followed by similar sentiments from the other girls.

"And you take care of yourselves too girls." Linka whispers, "And don't worry, I've sent someone to live with you. He'll benefit from living with you girls. Please, treat him well."

"We promise, we will." Leni takes a deep breathe and gives a knowing smile, "Like, what does he look like?"

Linka knowingly smiles, "You'll know when you see him. I promise I'll visit." And with that, the hug breaks, allowing the girl to turn and step back through the portal that had brought her there. And with that, she disappears from view.

"So what'll we do now, Lori?" Luna walks over to the eldest sister.

Lori takes a deep breath, "Let's go meet the boy he was talking about."

"G'ahh!" A voice shouts, filled by the bang of someone falling.

"And I guess that's our cue." Luna takes a deep breath and readjusts her guitar, "Come on girls."

Lori nods, and with that, the girls walk out of the room.

 _ **A Few Minutes Later…**_

"And it is done." Linka sighs as she turns and walks out of the room. For a moment, she expects to be overrun by ten familiar boys all prepared to give her some form of sympathy or another, though thankfully that isn't the case.

And so, she walks out of the room and walks down the stairs over to the living room, "Mind if I join ya guys?"

The boys look at each other for a moment, and shrug, before Loni passes her the remote with, "You pick."

The white-haired girl rubs her chin, well… anyone wanna watch a Hero Movie Marathon?"

Loki shrugs, "Sure, I'm fine with it…bro?

"Sis. I'm your sister now." Linka corrects, "Now scooch, the sweet spot's callin' my name." And some of the boys comply.

"So… what's goin' on with your family now?" Leif nervously asks, "Are ya gonna be leavin' soon?"

Linka shakes her head, "Nope, you guys are my family too and I promised I wouldn't abandon you."

Luke tilts his head, "But don't they need you?"

Linka shrugs, "Yeah, but you guys need me more. I think you'd go mad if you didn't have a sister to balance everything out and keep you in check."

The young men immediately shout in unison, "Hey!"

Linka shrugs, "What can I say?"

Lynn raises an eyebrow in curiosity, "So you're just leaving them hanging."

Linka shakes her head, "No, some guy needed them more than me." Before she thinks of how she grabbed a bruised Lincoln from dimension 11B, healed his injures

and sent him to C-137. _"And I'm sure he's doin' way better than he was back where he came from."_

* * *

"Ugh." A young, white-haired boy groans, "Morning already?" He glances out the window, _"I wonder what those guys have in store for me today…"_

Tiredly, he gets out of his bed, _"Wait? Where are they? They're usually around when I wake up…"_ His eyes go wide in shock. _"No…"_ He shakes his head and slowly makes his way over to the door. _"Did they leave me behind again?"_ Quietly, he opens up the door and steps into the quiet hallway.

" _This is suspicious… it's not April First…"_ For a moment, he slowly steps through the Loud House hallway, expecting some assault of some kind to come upon him, and yet… none comes, _"This is weird…"_ He looks around once more, before continuing to walk… only to trip upon a small crease in the rug, causing him to fall flat on his face.

"Lincoln!" Lori shouts, as she runs over and takes the young boy in her arms, "Are you ok?!"

"What the?!" The boy shouts, "Who are you people?!"

"Oh, poor Lincy!" Leni adds, "Like, do you want Lily to kiss it to make it better?" She holds the baby up to the boy.

"We'll get the gauze!" Lola and Lana declare, before turning and running off, no doubt to get the supplies.

"What the…." The boy looks on in confusion, "What's going on?! Who are you people?!"

Lori smiles, and carries the child as if he were a baby, "We're your sisters silly, and we're trying to take care of our only brother."

"I… I have sisters?!" Lincoln stammers, eliciting a nod from Luna.

"Yeah bro!" She strums, "It's not like you've got brothers!"

For a moment, the boy remains silent, unsure of just how to take the news. And yet, without another word he begins to tear up, "Thank… thank you!" And with that, his heart races, _"I don't have brothers… I'm not getting mocked for being in pain?! Is this… is this what love feels like?!"_

"So how are you feelin' Lincoln?" Lucy suddenly appears by their side, "I'm sure it would make a great subject for my latest poem."

The boy smiles, tears welling up in his eyes, "Thanks you guys, I feel better already." And with that he leans in.

"May I ask what's troubling you elder brother?" Lisa walks over to them.

"I just had the weirdest dream… I had ten brothers and they all didn't really care about me…" He looks at his new sisters, "Thanks for being here… for me."

"Anytime bro, anytime." Luna throws her arms around the young boy, with the rest of the sisters following suit, bringing them all into one claustrophobic hug.

* * *

Linka smiles at the thought, though her new family has other ideas.

"So, what do you wanna watch?" Lexx speaks up.

"Let's find the marathon shall we?" Linka declares, before holding out the remote and clicking through.

The first TV show involved four people trying to return home to their earth prime, "Dangit!" Linka quips, "I just lived that!"

"Heh, yeah." Lynn chuckles, "Sliders huh? Sounds strange."

Linka changes the channel, "A man traveling the multiverse in a police box? To be honest, I've heard stranger."

"Wibbly Wobbly Timey Whimey!" Lars quips. "Sounds like a fun show with a dark backstory."

Linka changes the channel again, allowing a man in a bright red suit with a lightning bolt on it to appear on screen. "Huh, The Flash."

Luke can't help but pull out his guitar and sing, "Runnin' around at the speed of sound-"

"No!" Loki shouts, "Don't remind us of that song! And stop singing it before I make you sit in the corner!"

"Heh all right." Linka chuckles, before changing the channel, allowing a boy with bright red hair to appear, with the line "Penn Zero, Part-Time Hero" written under him.

"Nope." Linka goes, "Nope, nope, nope." She changes the channel again.

"Burrp, Morty!" A man with blue hair stumbles on screen, "I need your help getting to another dimension!"

Linka grits her teeth, "Ok, what's going on?! Why have Rick and Morty come along all of a sudden?!"

Levi can't help but quip, "The effect of this 'situationally appropriate' series of broadcasts is mitigated by the fact that we are comfortable with the turn of events rather than emotional."

" _It's probably Ethioth being an arse again…"_ Linka shakes her head, "Hey invisible force! Quit it or give us something decent to watch at least! We've seen most of this stuff already!"

A moment of silence passes, before Linka changes the channel once more allowing a certain show to pop on screen, this one involves a young woman with blonde hair rushing along with her arm raised, "For Mewni!"

"Star Vs. huh?" Loki quips, before turning to his sister, "I'm ok with this, what do you guys think?"

The boys talk amongst themselves for a moment, before turning to their brother and nodding.

"Heh, all right then." He turns to Lynn, "Make some popcorn for us."

Lynn nods, jumps to his feet and rushes into to kitchen to make the bowl.

And with that, Linka and her brothers watch the season premiere.

* * *

"And that's what happened." Linka sighs, "So what do you guys think?"

For a moment, the three friends remain silent, just unsure of how to respond to Linka's words.

She sighs again, "Yeah… I guess I messed up huh?"

Ron Andy breaks the silence, "Not really. What are you stressin' out about Linka?"

"I just felt that I abandoned the people I was supposed to spend the most time with is all…" She looks at her three friends, "What do you guys think?"

Claudia immediately answers, "I think you did the right thing."

"Really?!" The girl perks up.

The dark-skinned girl nods, "Yeah. Those boys need you more than you think." She awkwardly rubs the back of her head, "Before you came around, Loki was more quiet and controlling than you think. If you're worried that you're being selfish, just think about it like this." He gives her a soft smile, "You'd be selfish if you let the boys deal with their own problems without you, especially since I doubt they'd get far without their sister."

"Plus, I'm sure you did something crazy to the real Linka." Ron Andy adds, a soft smile on his face.

Linka smiles, "Yeah, let me tell you about it."

* * *

"Guys! I fixed the dimensional goggles!" Levi rushes down the stairs, the device waiting in his arms.

Linka immediately jumps to her feet and grabs the device from her brother. "Awesome!" Immediately, she boots it up, and after the usual commands goes, "All right, here we go!"

 _ **Destination required.**_

"Dimension 11B." Linka responds, excitement filling ehr voice, _"Let's see how Linka's enjoying her new home."_

 _ **Input accepted.**_ And with that, the scene shifts, allowing Linka to see the result of her work, and smile. The Lincoln is bruised, with Leif poking him, and a regretful expression on the boy's face.

"Why the heck am I here?" The Lincoln quips.

"Because mom and dad decided to have as many kids as they could so they could have a daughter!" Leif answers, no doubt joy filling his voice.

Suddenly, a ball flies through the open doorway, and before Lincoln can react, ricochets off the wall and nails him in the head.

*Ugh* He groans.

Leif points at the injured boy and laughs, "Haha! You gotta man up Lincoln!"

Lincoln then looks up, only to find the rest of the boys pointing and laughing at him as well, _"This was the worst choice I ever made…"_

* * *

"So you sent her to dimension 11B?" Cristopher tilts his head in curiosity. "Isn't that cruel?"

Linka nods, "Yeah, I hated it there, and I'm sure she's gonna hate it there too." She chuckles, "It's not that cruel. Besides, it beats roasting to death in the desert."

"Heh true." Ron Andy chuckles, before standing up, "Anyways, let's get home." He takes Linka's hand, "You feelin' better Link?"

The girl smiles, "Yeah, thanks for your help guys."

Claudia waves her off, "We didn't do anything, except get you to open up of course."

"Yeah, but it helped." The girl stands up, "Now come on, we're still burnin' daylight!" And with that, the friends follow and all rush towards the arcade and dance club.

 _ **Later…**_

With the day all but finished, Linka lays in her bed, "So… New permanent home." Linka can't help but chuckle, "To think… six months ago, I was determined to leave this place as soon as possible. Now I doubt I'll ever leave."

She pulls out her phone and begins to scroll through, allowing it to stop on an image of the girls, "Still… did I really make the right choice? Why do I feel so… empty?" Yet, instead of trying to answer that question, she simply sighs, and nods off for the night.

1-6-20-5-18 5-22-5-18-25-20-8-9-14-7 19-8-5'19 4-15-14-5, 19-8-5 4-5-19-5-18-22-5-19 1 14-5-23 8-15-13-5, 1-14-4 20-8-5 2-15-25-19 4-5-19-5-18-22-5 20-8-5-9-18 14-5-23 19-9-19-20-5-18.

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed! I thank Wolvenstrom for helping me finish this! And as always, I'm not late! (Though I'm cutting it close)**

 **Song Used: Fly Away feat. Anjulie Link: (Youtube) v=cMg8KaMdDYo**

 **Also, I have realized that updating 3 stories of roughly the same length is rather difficult. I apologize for not updating UB this week, its update will be pushed back till next Saturday.**


	38. One Of The Girls

**A/N Well this is amusing, some of you correctly guessed that there would be three endings to this story. Why? Because when it comes to ending a story like this, well, "infinite Universes equals infinite possibilities". There are just so many possibilities that aren't realized because of the nature of a story. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the final ending!**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Lincoln takes a third option.**_

Epilogue Three: One Of The Girls

For a moment, the Guardian of Fate simply stands by, his arms held firming behind his back, while he holds his body up at a pseudo-attention. Then, with a soft, yet commanding voice he asks, "Did I hear you correctly?"

Lincoln stands firm, though he does his best to fight the ever-growing feeling of dread filling his body, _"Could he be like William? Was he just gonna throw me into a random dimension and he didn't expect my question?!"_ Despite this, however, he is still able to answer, "I want cake."

"Cake?" The man takes a knee in front of the boy, amusement filling his voice, "Now what kind of wish is that?"

" _Dangit…"_ Lincoln mentally kicks himself, though doesn't let his demeanor break, "It's what I want."

Ethioth simply shrugs with that, "All right then." Before he snaps his fingers, "Then let it be so." And with that, a small slice of cake appears in his hands, with the accompanying plate and fork. The man smiles, "It's white chocolate, I know it's your favorite."

"Uhh…" For a moment Lincoln simply stares at the slice, unsure of whether or not to take a bite.

"Heh, don't worry child." The man stands up once more, "I am truly the Guardian of Fate. I have no need to make your life more difficult than it already has been. So please, feel free to eat." He motions towards the slice once more.

And so, reluctantly, the young man takes a scoop out of the cake, _"This guy is so… strange! Why is he so nice?!"_ He then stares at the bite of chocolate, unsure if he should continue.

"Go on, eat. It will not harm you." Ethioth motions towards the bite, "I am not your adversary here."

" _Welp, here goes nothing!"_ Lincoln thinks, before he shoves the bite in his mouth and chews. As soon as the sweet chocolate falls upon his tongue, his eyes go wide, _"This tastes great!"_ And with that, he digs in, eating the slice faster than Ethioth had expected, and finishing with a rather large stain on his shirt.

"Heh, my, my Lincoln Loud, you behave as if you have not eaten chocolate in several days now." Ethioth can't help but give a soft chuckle.

Lincoln wipes his mouth with his shirt collar, "Well, now that I think about it, I didn't get a chance to eat my birthday cake."

"Of course, of course." The man waves him off, "That was ten chapters ago."

" _I'll just ignore that."_ Lincoln holds the plate out, "Anyways, thanks for the cake…" He awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "But that wasn't what I meant by wantin' cake, ya know…"

Ethioth throws his head back in laughter, "Do you not think that I would know what you really meant?! Haha child, despite everything you've gone through, you're still as naïve as ever!"

"What do you mean?" Lincoln tilts his head in curiosity.

He holds his hands behind his back once more, while continuing to speak in a soft, polite voice. It is almost as if as if he had done something like this countless times before. "Simple really. As the Guardian of Fate, I know all that has and will happen… albeit less of the latter and more of the former."

"I figured as much…" Lincoln looks away, "I just thought that you'd just be more straightforward about how powerful you were… ya know…just granting the wish I wanted.

Ethioth chuckles, "Oh Lincoln, every time a mortal comes to my domain, I am always surprised by how naïve they are." He lovingly rubs The young man's head, "Just because I know what can, has and will happen, does not mean I would not rather hear true meanings from their source." He stands back and smiles, "After all, what story would it be if I acted like I knew the ending?"

"So let me guess this straight…" Lincoln can't help, but let his curiosity peak, "You have the power to change reality at will and yet do nothing to do so? Doesn't that sound like a bit of an arsehole thing to do?"

Without missing a beat Ethioth waves him off, "Every day I have an infinite number of people thanking and blaming me for every little thing that goes wrong or right in their life as if I micro managed all of it. So yes Lincoln, I think I have the right to be an arse on occasion." Then, he snaps his finger once more, causing a small chair and an apple to appear next to him.

Lincoln watches on in awe as the man simply takes a seat and a bite out of the apple, "Heh so what do you do?"

"My job is simple really." The man loosens up, "I just push the ball, where it goes isn't my job." He then looks Lincoln in the eye, "You can't have the good without the bad Lincoln. You said that yourself."

"So you control fate… without controlling fate?" Lincoln tilts his head in confusion, "How does that work?"

"Do you think life would be interesting to watch if I set it up myself? Think, boy!" He holds his hands up at his sides, "I am as much a viewer as you are the participant.

"Wait… so does this mean you could've sent me home at any time?!" The boy's eyes go wide in surprise.

"Of course." He smiles, "But what kind of an adventure would you have had if I brought you here with the turn of a page?"

Lincoln shakes his head, "Whatever you say... pagemaster."

Ethioth tips his hat, "Please, call me Ethioth." Before he throws his head back in laughter, "Haha! Thank you for the nickname though!" he wipes a tear from his eye, "Anyhow, it is time for you to go home."

"But to where?" Lincoln stares at the man, "I already told you my answer to just going back to dimension sixty-three and C-One Three seven!"

"Let me show you two possible futures I have come up with." The man holds up two orbs of light, "Maybe then you will be able to make up your mind better."

For a moment, the young boy simply watches. Ethioth's hands had weaved the future for him, and had given him a chance to see his plan, _"But… why doesn't this seem good? Neither ending works out…"_

"So what do you think? I spend ten minutes coming up with these possible futures for you!" Ethioth holds his head up proudly.

"Neither of these looks promising." Lincoln quips, before looking at Ethioth, "Is there another way?"

He laughs, "Of course, after all… this choice is up to you." He then looks into the young man's eyes, "But… you have yet to answer my question."

"What question?" Lincoln looks back into Ethioth's eyes, taking note of the bags under them, breathing of his age and exhaustion.

"What did you mean by, 'I want cake'?" Ethioth snaps his fingers again, causing another chair to appear before him, "And while you answer, why don't you take a seat? After all, it couldn't hurt."

Wordlessly, Lincoln takes a seat, " _What should I say?"_ His thoughts begin to race, though his body answers before he can finish, "I don't want to choose my brothers or my sisters."

"Heh, of course." Ethioth smiles.

"After everything I've gone through, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I decided to just go home and leave the boys behind, or stay in dimension sixty-three and abandon my sisters." Lincoln looks the man in the eyes once more, "If I did, I probably wouldn't be any better than Linka."

Ethioth puts on a proud smile, "So you have learned."

"Learned what?" Lincoln tilts his head in curiosity.

"You've learned something from your six-month adventure." The guardian laughs, "Haha! It only took you thirty-five chapters!"

"So you'll help me?" The young man leans in, excitement filling his voice.

"I said I would, and so I shall." The man stands up, "But seeing as this is your future we're talking about, I see it fit that you make your world." He then snaps his fingers, causing the Macguffin to appear at his side, "This device was created to build the perfect world."

"Yeah, I know." Lincoln stares at the device.

Ethioth waves him off, "Yes, I know." He adjusts his hat, "And the cost would be destroying all other realities." He stares Lincoln in the eyes, "But this device can act without other universes, creating a world that the user desires, albeit it would not be perfect…" He smiles, "But I don't think that's what you would want."

Then, he pushes the device over, allowing it to float into Lincoln's hands.

He eyes the device for a moment, "So, you're just giving this to me?"

"Yes." Ethioth snaps his fingers once more, causing the apple and the chairs to disappear, "Please, surprise me now, will you not?"

For a moment, the young boy thinks, before smiling and nodding, "Seriously though, your not actually the pagemaster are you? Cause that seems like a really cheap twist."

Ethioth just smiles.

Lincoln continues, "Really? The mysterious smile?! Come on!"

"Simply put, I am fate. I can write and erase as I please. And yet, it's still more fun to see where a story goes without my interference. And now it is time to give yourself the ending you deserve." Ethioth turns around, "I wish you the best Lincoln." And with that, he glows with orange light, before returning to his true form.

"Thank you Ethioth…" Lincoln whispers, _"So that's it huh? He's letting me choose what happens next?"_ he looks down at the small device.

"Yep." A voice calls out, before the guardian of the segment appears before him, "Surprising really, I thought he'd do more to stop us."

"What are you talkin' about?" Lincoln turns to the feminine figure… only the for the three other guardians to appear by her side.

Segment shrugs, "Ethioth was one of the guardians that sealed us away. I guess I'm just surprised that he let us go so easily this time."

Filament chuckles, "Heh, well maybe the old guy is so burned out from his job that he's finally decided to let an unaccompanied eleven-year-old use a device of infinite power.

Component just shakes her head, "Well whatever his plan is, it all has to do with the person he gave us to."

Material simply turns to the young man holding their artifacts, "So Lincoln, we're at your service, and from the looks of it, you can do whatever you want with us!"

Lincoln nods, "All right then." And so, he pulls the device in closer and concentrates, causing the Macguffin to glow.

Instantly, Lincoln finds himself floating amongst countless stars, _"I guess I'm back where I started… the inter-dimension."_ Around him float thousands of glowing orbs; each with a scene playing within. _"Give myself the ending I deserve?"_ He glances around for a moment, before grabbing one of the nearby orbs. Inside, a scene plays showing what could happen if he decides to go home, _"I left them and I stayed with them…"_ He clutches it for a moment, _"But I don't want to abandon the boys…"_

Slowly, he looks around once more, and grabs another orb- this one playing what could happen if he decides to go back to dimension sixty-three- _"I decided to leave them behind and live in my new home… and abandon the girls…"_ He holds them close for a moment, "Ugh why is this so frustrating?! What should I do?!"

"This is an easy answer to come up with mate." Filament appears at his side, with the other three following soon after, "Sometimes you gotta pick a third option."

"I mean, you do have infinite power." Component turns around, "It's not like you couldn't just… you know… rework the world to make it so it fits your wishes."

"But wouldn't that be me doing exactly what I stopped William from trying?!" Lincoln shouts, confusion entering his voice.

Segment shakes her head, "William wanted to erase all worlds to create his utopia. You on the other hand can use us just to make a few tweaks in the whirlpool of reality."

Lincoln looks down at the device, running it along his hand as he does so. _"But… what if I go overboard?"_

"Besides, no matter what you do, we'll follow." Material nonchalantly shrugs, "It's not like we have much of a say in the matter."

"Dangit Material! You're always like this!" Segment flares her arms in annoyance.

"Whatever." Material counters.

" _I don't wanna abandon my sisters and I don't wanna leave my brothers behind…"_ He closes his eyes, allowing the countless memories to overwhelm him once more; of the times that they had shared and their dreams of the future. _"The only way I could go on without abandoning the other is…"_ Suddenly an idea comes to him, allowing him to declare, "I know what to do!"

Component smiles, "All right then, do it!"

Lincoln nods, before taking hold of the Macguffin and raising it up, "Fragments that which control power over all of reality, lend me your strength."

The device engulfs Lincoln in its light with that, before everything goes dark.

* * *

*Yawn* Loki slowly opens his weary eyes, allowing his gaze to fall upon the young boy resting across from him, _"Wow, I guess Linka…"_ Yet, before he can finish the thought, his eyes go wide, _"Wait, Linka! I have to get back to the Trapezohedron of Tricks! She's in-"_

"Ugh." Loni groans, "Loki? What's goin' on with ya?" He tiredly sits up and rubs the back of his head.

"Wrong with me?!" Loki flares his arms, "What's wrong with you?! You're sleeping and Linka's in trouble!"

"Linka's not in trouble?" Loni tilts his head, "We tucked her in last night, remember?"

Loki doesn't calm down, "But the Traps, the games, William?!"

"Who's William?" Loni asks, before immediately snapping his fingers, "Oh I know! He's that guy from Gravity Falls!"

"No Loni." Loki shakes his head and turns around, _"No… that was too weird… it couldn't have been a dream could it?"_

Loni then turns and hops to his feet, "You feelin' ok Loki?"

The older man considers lashing out for a moment, and trying desperately to get Loni to tell him that this is all some elaborate joke and that Justin Ker-prank is going to pop out of the nearby wall any second.

"Yeah… yeah… I'm fine." Loki pushes his younger brother off.

"Yo bro, you look like something is bugging ya." Loni grabs his shoulder, "You wanna talk about it or somethin'?"

"No." Loki flatly responds, before turning and looking down at the floor in front of them, _"That couldn't have been a dream, could it? No… it was just too real…"_

"All right Loki, if you don't mind, I'll be headed to the showers." Loni then turns and grabs his toiletries, "I'm glad Linka taught us how to properly wash up!"

Loki shrugs, "All right Loni, I'll join ya as well." And with that, he turns and grabs his gear as well.

A few moments pass with that, before the young boys step out of their room... only to immediately come face-to-face with a now massive hallway shaped as a square and the staircase downstairs on one end, with two bathrooms on the other.

"Uhh… Loki, have we always lived in a double-sized hallway?" Loni nervously turns towards his older brother.

The older man on the other hand holds in his confusion for a moment…. Only to eventually shout, "What the heck is going on here?!"

"What's up Loki?!" The Luke bursts out of his room, almost as if ready to execute any command his brother could have… and when he catches a glimpse of what the upstairs hallway looks like, he can't help but stand by awestruck for a moment, only to follow it up with, "What the heck is this?!"

And when that rings out, the rest of the boys burst out of their rooms, all muttering similar worry, only for expressions of surprise to overtake them the moment they catch sight of their home.

"I know we have to compensate for stuff, but this is ridiculous!" Lane shouts, though he doesn't break out in laughter, no doubt from the shock.

Meanwhile, across the hall, Lori and Leni tiredly step out of their rooms as well... "So like… I thought, why not throw a party for Lincoln, I'm sure he'd…"

"Leni, while I agree we don't treat Lincoln better than anyone else, I literally think that that's the…" She looks up from her phone, no doubt she had stayed up all night talking to Bobby, "What the heck?!"

Immediately, Loki points at Lori, "What are you doin' in our home?!"

"What are we doin in your home?!" Lori counters the attack with her own, "What are you doing in our home?!"

"From the looks of it, we're about to have double the trouble!" Luan puns, though her siblings readying themselves for a fight just tells about how amusing that joke really is.

"Boys, it looks like that cats wanna take on the dogs!" Loki adjusts his stance.

"But like, aren't we not allowed to hit girls?" Loni raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"I believe that in cases of self-defense, the use of sufficient force is allowed." Levi cuts in, "Though I believe we should try to understand what is going on before we attempt any physical confrontation."

"I concur." Lisa steps forward, "Remember, we have just come from the end of a massive chess match in which our male-turned-female sibling fought against a literal god."

Levi then steps into the center of the wall, with Lisa doing the same, "And when we stop suspending consciousness, we find ourselves in the same home as the counterparts that we had come to know."

"Lisa, you literally have to get to the point." Lori raises her fists, no doubt ready for the fight preparing to break out, "Because in a few seconds, we're gonna fight to see who gets to stay and who gets to leave."

"Simply put." Levi turns to the young woman, "There is reason to believe that Lincoln is the one behind this turn of events."

"So you mean to tell me that the reason why we now have an even louder home is because Lincoln decided to put us together?" Lars appears at the scientist's side.

"G'ahh!" Levi shouts before he quickly regains his composure, "Affirmative."

"I believe it would be in our best interest to-" Lisa attempts to start, only for a certain scream to echo through the home.

"Ahh!"

"Dad!" The twenty Loud Children shout in unison, before rushing out of their rooms and down the stairs. Within seconds they stand at the bottom of the stairs, all crowding around desperately trying to understand the sight.

"Uhh... dads?" Girl Lynn tilts her head in confusion.

63 Lynn Sr. Turns to face the group of children for a moment, before muttering, "What's goin' on here?!"

"What did you kids do?!" C-137 Rita adds, fury filling her expression, while he counterpart adds, "And why are there two of us?!"

"We don't know either!" Boy Lynn flares his arms up, "We just woke up and everything was oversized!"

"Not everything!" Lane laughs, "My D-"

"Not the time Lane." Loki pinches the bridge of his nose, "Ok, we really need to-

*Ding* *Dong* The door goes.

Everyone stops for a second, as if the sudden sound has caused them all to freeze up.

*Ding* *Dong* The door goes again.

Loki wordlessly nudges his second-in-command, silently ordering him to answer.

Luke nods in response, and walks over to the door.

*Ding* *Dong* It goes again, though this time, Luke simply opens the door, revealing five familiar Anomaly Hunters.

"Oh, hey guys, what's up?" Luke tilts his head in confusion.

Nyla responds by throwing her arms around the boy, "What? Can't a girl come visit her boyfriend after a multiverse reset?"

"She can." Luke nuzzles her lovingly.

*Ahem* Lyle holds her hand up to her face and coughs, "If you don't mind, we're here on business." She looks passed the fifteen-year-olds and stares directly at the Lynn Sr.'s and Rita's, "May we come in?"

"All right." 63 Lynn Sr. answers, "But you have to tell us what's going on."

"Like, that's easy!" Nell walks into the home, with the twin hunters following, "Lincoln was able to pull a deus ex reset!"

Lisa is the first to respond, "A deus ex what?"

Aeif steps forward to answer, "Simply put, when he was given power over the entire multiverse, he used it to set everything back to what it was…" she looks around the now double-sized home, "Well… from the looks of it, mostly."

"We're here because we've been sent to deal with a class three anomaly!" Alex cuts in, "According to our Holo-Gear, it's in this house!"

"That tears it!" C-137 Lynn Sr. shouts, much to everyone's surprise, "Will someone stop and explain what's going on before anything else happens?!

"I think I can help with that." A feminine voice calls out. Everyone then turns towards the source: a young, white-haired girl in an orange blouse and blue skirt.

Silence overtakes the room with that, with no one knowing just how to break the ice; forcing the young girl to do so, "Hey guys… what's up.

Though, once the initial shock wears off, it's Loki that answers her, "Hey there…" He holds his fists at his sides, ready to lash out in case something happens.

"Heh, what kind of question is that?" The girl can't help but chuckle. "It's-a me, Lincoln in Linka's body again."

Immediately, everyone present starts to talk amongst themselves, with no one knowing how to follow the revelation up… forcing the young woman to break them out of it again, "Guys! It's really me!"

Lori then motions for everyone to quiet down, "Guys! Shut it!" Followed by the Louds taking her order. With the room once again brought into silence, the young woman takes a deep breathe, "All right, prove it." She points at her, "Prove it."

"Lynn loves ballet. And dad's middle name is Bertram." The girl smiles, "Plus, I spent the past six months spending time with the boys, so I know a ton about them!"

Loki raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms, "Oh? Like what?"

"Well, I know that Lars is writing a story about an orphan boy who just lost his twin sister." She chuckles, "And that's not even mentioning what Lexx and Leif-"

"That's enough. Please." Loni motions for her to stop, "We don't need anymore secrets getting out."

"Heh all right." The girl awkwardly rubs her head, "But yeah, it's me, Lincoln… or should I say Linka."

"Who cares?!" Lana jumps out from the crowd and rushes for the young woman, "You're back!" And on cue, everyone else breaks and rushes up the stairs to embrace the young girl

"We're glad to have you back." Luna whispers, pulling the girl in close, "Though… what will we call ya now, bro?"

"Sis, I'm your sister now." Linka chuckles, moving into the group hug as she does so, "I've been a sister for close to seven months now, and it still feels weird being called that, ya know…"

Lola then cuts in, "I know I sometimes said I wished you were a girl sometimes. But I think I'll miss having a brother around."

Linka smiles. "Why? You've got ten of them."

"Well, this reunion is nice and all, but we're still here ya know." Lyle shouts, her voice filling with the heat of an understanding leader.

The group of Louds breaks up, revealing the lone, white-haired girl. "What's up?

"First, I think you should explain what just happened, and why you're a girl now." Lyle steps over and takes a knee in front of her, "Then I'll start asking about the thing I came here to do."

Linka nods, "All right…" She takes a deep breathe, "After I beat William and got the Macguffin, I was taken to meet the Guardian of Fate, Ethioth."

The five hunter's eyes go wide in shock, "You got to meet the guardian of fate?!" Alex flares his arms.

"Yeah." She smiles, "He's a pretty nice guy."

"So like, what'd he do with ya?" Nell cheerfully asks, her curiosity now peaked.

"Well… he gave me the Macguffin and told me to give myself the ending I thought I deserved…" Linka holds up a small device, "And so I thought about what I could do…" She glances at the boys, "I thought, maybe I could go home and rebuild dimension sixty-three…. But I thought that wouldn't be fair to you guys." Then she looks at the girls, "And I thought of moving to live in dimension sixty-three… but I realized that I would be abandoning you guys to do so…"

Then she turns to face forward, "And I would never be able to forgive myself if I did that…"

"So You decided to rebuild the world?" Aeif tilts her head in both confusion and curiosity.

"Yeah…" She looks away, "I realized that while a perfect world is impossible to create, you can make a world that is worth making perfect… so I decided to use the Macguffin's power to combine our two dimensions."

"So you basically took a third option, huh?" Lars appears at her side, a soft smile forming, "Heh, that's the sister I've come to love."

"Heh yeah." Linka smiles, before turning around and looking at all of her siblings, "So, I used its power to rebuild our worlds, things are shifted a bit… but it's mostly the same."

"But why are you a girl again?" Lucy appears opposite her counterpart, "Didn't you wanna come home and be our brother again?"

Linka nods, "Yeah, I did…" She grabs her arm, "But when I was rebuilding the world, I realized that well… a cake feels best when everyone can share it, and if I came back as a boy, well…" She looks at her brothers, "My brothers wouldn't be able to enjoy the cake as much…"

A moment of silence passes with that.

Loki Then speaks up, "So... we're all in the same reality now?"

"Yep, and I'm still a girl now." Linka responds.

"Well… I don't know how to respond to this…." Girl Lynn simply stares for a moment, while her male counterpart shrugs, "To be honest… I think I've gotten used to all of this…What about you guys?"

Luna looks turns towards Luke and Nyla, still hugging after reuniting, "Yeah, I don't know how to take this either…"

The two comedians look at each other for a moment, with Luan going, "Well this is gonna be pun."

Immediately, Lane throws his head back, "Haha!"

Leif's eyes go wide in shock, "Oh no, there's two of them!"

Lane follows up the fear with, "And only eleven months till April Fool's!"

The entire family goes pale with that.

"And this year it's gonna be, It'll really 'double the pleasure'. Haha!" Lane can't help but laugh even harder with that.

Luan pauses, turns to her counterpart, and slaps him hard enough knock his face the other way, leaving a red welt across his face.

"Sorry. I deserved that." Lane rubs his cheek. "No dirty puns while the girls are around…"

"So what now, Lincoln?" 63 Lynn Sr. turns to the white-haired girl. "I mean, There's still plenty-"

"Next, we get down to business." Lyle declares, raising her Holo-Gear as she does so.

Linka looks up to the young woman, "Business?"

"First thing's first." She taps away, causing a Holo-Gear to materialize before her, "The AEU thanks you for testing the prototype version of the new form of Holo-Gear, as such, the commander has decided to award you your own, personal version of it."

The device falls into the young girl's hands, "Huh, neat!" She smiles, _"I guess I did get something for all my troubles."_

"Next, we need you to give us Trevor's card and Holo-Gear." Lyle motions towards the new Holo-Gear after all, you will not need to use that anymore."

Linka nods, turns and rushes up the stairs with that, before rushing back down, the stolen device in hand, "Here it is!"

Lye takes and absorbs it into her Holo-Gear without a word, "Finally, we have come to deal with a class three anomaly."

"Where is it?" The girl tilts her head.

"It is coming from your room." The young woman steps passed her, "If you don't mind, I'll go and bring it down."

The younger girl nods, "All-"

"Hey!" C-137 Rita puts her hands on her hips, "What makes you think you can just barge into our home and start looking around without our consent?!"

C-137 Lynn adds, "Yeah! We're still very confused by what's going on and we don't want some random strangers-"

"Mom, dad…" The young girl cuts them off, "That's what Lily's gonna grow up to be like."

Immediately, the two parent's eyes go wide in shock, "Wait… that's Lily?!"

"I'm a version of her to be exact." Lyle smiles softly, "Now, I'll go get the anomaly." Then, she heads upstairs. A few minutes of silence pass, before she comes down once more, this time with a young boy flailing in her arms.

"Hey! Let go of me!" He shouts, frustration filling his body.

"Aeif, Alex, grab his arms!" Lyle commands, prompting the twin hunters to rush to the boy's sides and grab his arms, allowing Lyle to pull back and grab his legs. "All right, Nell, cuff him!"

The Leni counterpart nods, before walking over and placing a black collar around the boy's neck, much to his dismay, "Hey! What's going on, who are you?!"

"Uhh… what's that?" 63 Lynn Sr. asks.

"Simply put, it's a shock collar." Lyle lets go of the boy, causing him to fall to the floor, "If he does anything to endanger the fabric of reality again, he will be auto-carded."

"So you mean…" Linka starts, causing Lyle to nod, "Yeah, the AEU has decided to stop just carding anomalies and will now try and reform those that cause issues."

"Wow, what caused that?" Linka tilts her head in curiosity, "If I remember… you guys tried to kill me last time I visited your base."

Nyla breaks her embrace with Luke in order to answer, "You did." She places a hand on her shoulder, "You showed that an anomaly was capable of more than just wrecking the dimension they are in."

"But won't they still ruin dimensions?" Linka tilts her head in confusion.

Lyle shrugs, "I'll let the higher ups figure that one out."

"Hey!" The white-haired boy shouts, "What's going on?! Why did you shove this collar on me?!"

"Enough!" 63 Lynn Sr. shouts, before both he and his wife step forward.

"Hello Linka." Rita stares at the young boy.

"What are you talking about?! I'm Lincoln!" He goes, before pointing at the young girl nearby, "She's Linka!"

Yet, the young, white-haired girl steps forward, "Shut it Linka, we both know the truth."

For a moment, the boy stands awestruck, before hardening his gaze, "You again?!"

Linka nods, "You know it, and it's just about time you pay for everything you did."

The young boy grits his teeth, "Whatever, I'll just-"

"You'll just nothing." 63 Lynn Sr. declares, "Linka, your mother and I have decided to finally be the parents we haven't been for a long time, and we'll start by grounding you for life!"

The boy's eyes go wide in shock, "What?! You can't do this to me!"

Yet, his mother shakes her head, "We can, and we just did."

"Loki." The man then turns to his eldest son.

"Yeah dad?"

"Still got those contacts at your old military school?" He continues, no doubt they both had an idea of what he was talking about.

"I'll make some calls." Loki smiles, "No doubt they'll be happy to hear from their top student." Pride fills his voice.

Lincoln's eyes go even wider, "No! You can't!" Desperation then fills his voice.

"We will. You are going to military school for what you've done!" Rita counters, "Maybe they'll be able to whip you into shape there."

"And if you do anything to get out of your place, you'll be turned into a card." Linka stands over the now-fear-filled boy, "This is what you get for trying to steal my life."

Without another word, Lincoln turns, jumps to his feet and scampers up the stairs, no doubt to hide in his room.

"Looks like my job here is done then." Lyle turns and then walks over to the group of hunters

A few feet away, Nyla stands before Luke. The young man pulls her into another warm hug, "So, does this mean you're goin'?"

Nyla smiles, "No."

"Really?!" Luke breaks their embrace, while the other ex-hunters come to their side.

"Yeah." Lyle speaks up, "Nyla, Nell, Alex and Aeif have all been released from their oaths as hunters. They're free to live here from now on."

Luke smiles, before pulling Nyla into a soft, passionate kiss; one that she happily returns.

Meanwhile, Luna just raises her hand, before turning around and walking away, "Nope! Too weird!"

The Louds can't help but laugh at that.

"Haha!" Lori wipes a tear from her eye, before turning to her brother-turned-sister, "So Lincoln, what'll we do now?"

Linka simply smiles, "I guess just keep goin' on."

* * *

Girl Lynn stares directly at the floor, her face beet red while her counterpart stretches his body, showing off the muscles that he had gained from his hobby. Though, that isn't the reason why she's blushing.

Nor was the fact that her former brother is doing the same thing, albeit showing more of her feminine curves.

No, it was none of those things. She blushes because of they had managed to convince her to wear.

" _You know… When I said I wanted to learn how Lincoln was able to pull off those sweet moves again Lyle, I expected something less… girly."_ Girl Lynn does her best to hide the embarrassment growing on her face _, "Ya know… something like martial arts or maybe even that battle dance stuff I've heard about! Yeah, I knew boy-me did ballet, but I didn't expect him to get his skills from it!"_ She glances at her brother-turned sister, _"Or that Lincoln would like this stuff…"_

Linka walks up to her, the white-haired girl now wearing her ballet dress, "You ready Lynn?"

Girl Lynn stammers, "I, uh...y-yeah I..."

Boy Lynn finishes his warm-ups and turns towards his counterpart, "Ya sure you wanna do this Lynn?"

"Well…" Girl Lynn's voice trails off, while she awkwardly rubs the back of her head, "I didn't expect this to be where you go all those sick moves.

Linka tilts her head, "So you're quitting?"

Immediately, the young woman stares at her sister, "Lynn Loud **never** quits! Go ahead, hit me with your best shot!"

Linka then turns to boy Lynn and smiles, "All right then, you know what to do Lynn!"

Boy Lynn crosses his arms and nods at his sister, before turning to face the young woman, "Ok tough girl. But first we have to make sure you're plenty stretched."

Girl Lynn waves him off, "I already did my daily workout and karate practice."

"Then you've limbered up about 'half' the muscles already. Now come on, leg on the bar."

Lynn follows and with that, they get to practicing.

* * *

Linka rests upon her bed, no doubt exhausted from trying to live with two big families all at the same time. While she rests though, two young children sleep upon her stomach, holding each other close as they use their sister as a pillow.

And of course, her siblings can't help but notice her current situation.

"Guys, come quick!" Lori motions for the rest of her siblings to come over, "This is literally the most adorable thing I've ever seen!" And so, with the frantic rush to see the sight before the young girl wakes up, all ten of the Loud Girls come to the door.

Leni can't help be squeal, "Eeeee! I'm so totes jelly!"

Luna smiles, "Heh, if that were anymore adorable I'd need to brush my teeth."

"How come Lily never did that with us?" Lana flares her arms in annoyance.

Lisa pulls out her notepad and answers, "According to Levi. Lincoln was charged with the care of his youngest male sibling more frequently in their universe more than any of us have taken care of Lily without aid from other siblings. And as for Lily's behavior with them, well 'Monkey see, monkey do'."

"Isn't that kinda sexist?" Girl Lynn raises an eyebrow.

"They were raising their daughter to become a homemaker out of a fear for her safety brought about by a cripplingly traumatic event that led to her becoming the horrible psychopath she was. Casual sexism is the least of their offenses." Lisa shoves her papers away, "Though, most of it is understandable."

"Ugh…" Linka stirs from her slumber, and immediately catches sight of her sisters, "Oh hey girls, what's up?"

"Nothing much, we were just watchin' ya sleep!" Luan holds her arms up at her sides.

" _Heh, just like always…"_ The girl can't help but think, while she watches the rest of her family come over.

"You're awfully close to those two, Linka." C-137 Lynn Sr. goes, "It's almost like you're preparing to become a mother or something."

"Yeah!" C-137 Rita adds, "You weren't this close to them before…"

"Heh, well things have changed, ya know…" Linka then turns to them, "To be honest... I really like the idea of being a mother someday."

"That is literally hard to hear a bit." Lori rubs the back of her head, "You were our brother just a few months ago.."

The white-haired girl continues, "Course I don't want to be a Hannah homemaker any more than Linka did, but... I like boys now. I'm a girl who likes boys, and would like to have a family of my own one day… admittedly with fewer kids than what we've grown up with." Linka looks at the two babies.

"Oh yeah." Loki nods in agreement,

Lane just adds, "Yup."

Luna smiles, "Totally."

Loni then cuts in, "I'm actually going to stop having more after I have at least one of each."

C-137 Rita glares at her daughters, "And I'm planning on killing any of you who try to have more than three."

63 Rita chuckles. "Really? I decided on four. Four if they have three the same gender and want one more try for something different."

"That's fair." C-137 Rita responds with a shrug, "Still family reunions are gonna be killer.

And with that, the family turns around and walks away, leaving the young girl alone in her room.

"Heh." Linka smiles, before nestling herself with her infant siblings once more and returning to her slumber.

* * *

Lars reads over the notes that Linka had made for him, all detailing her adventures in dimension sixty-three., "So... I wonder if this will make a good story."

Lucy stands off to the side, reading along as well, "After everything that's happened, I'd make a poem out of it."

"Heh, well, whatever you decide, those are all the notes you'll need." Linka lovingly runs her hands through her siblings' jet-black hair, "Do you guys need anything else?"

"I doubt it." Lars responds, before turning towards his pen and paper.

"Same." Lucy counters as she does the same."

"Heh, all right then." Linka turns and walks out of the room, "Call me if you need anything!"

And with that, Lars and Lucy try to work on their own versions of Lincolns 'adventure'.

"Heh, this is amusing." Lars chuckles, a soft smile forming on his face.

"What is?" Lucy raises an eyebrow.

"I'll be at this paper for a while since I'm writing a story, but you're gonna done soon, after all, you're only writing a poem." A hint of annoyance and amusement entire the young Goth's voice.

"Well…" Lucy turns towards her counterpart, "Short work prevents bloated pages."

"Heh, whatever, I'm sure you wouldn't be able to write a poem story even if your life depended on it." Lars chuckles.

"And I'm sure you wouldn't be able to tell a story within a thousand words." Lucy counters, her voice filling with annoyance.

"Is that a challenge?" the boy smiles, "I love a challenge."

Lucy smiles as well, "Then how about a writing challenge?

"You're on!" Lars shouts, and with that, the duo gets to work trying to out-write the other.

 _ **The Next Day…**_

"Ugh…" Lucy tiredly pulls herself up from her notepad, "What happened?" She glances around the room for a moment, only for her eyes to fall upon the sleeping Lars. The boy now slumped over his notebook… with a pillow held under him.

" _Where did that pillow come from?"_ Lucy thinks, before looking down, only to find a pillow resting under her as well.

"Heh." She smiles, "Lincoln must've come in to make sure we wouldn't be too sore in the morning." And with that, she lies down upon the pillow once more, and lets sleep take her in again.

* * *

"So like, what's it like living with Bobby?" Lori cheerfully asks, taking a bite out of her sandwich as she does so.

"Oh, it's nothing." Bebe waves her off, "I mean, I just gotta deal with a workaholic, you probably gotta deal with so much since you live with such a huge family!"

Lori waves her off, "Nah, thanks to Linka, it's no big deal."

"Speaking of Linka, Where is she anyways?" Bebe rubs her chin.

Lori shrugs, "She said she wanted to go talk to Ronnie Anne and Ron Andy about something, I'm sure they'll be back soon."

"Heh ok." Bebe smiles, "By the way, do you ever would what her children's hair-color would be?"

"I literally always do!" Lori breaks out in smile and begins to rant, "Like, I always wonder…"

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"So… why'd you bring us here for Lame-O?" Ronnie Anne shoves her hands in her pockets.

"Yeah, you usually tell me when you're about to do something behind the tree." Ron Andy adds, though his voice holds considerably less annoyance behind it.

Quietly, Linka checks to make sure the coast is clear, before she turns to face her two partners, "Hey guys, what's up?"

"The sky." Ron Andy sarcastically responds.

"Haha." Linka puts on a pained smile, while the two across from her simply look on in confusion.

"Uhh… what's up?" Ronnie Anne tilts her head in confusion, "You look like something's buggin' ya."

" _There's no hiding this…"_ Linka takes a deep breath, "Guys… I love you both…"

"Well yeah… we know." Ron Andy shrugs, "I mean, it'd be pretty awkward if we were dating you and you didn't really like us back, now would it?"

"Yeah… I know…" Linka takes a deep breath, "But… I'm only one person… so I wanted to know what to do about our relationship now that I'm, well… like this now…"

"There's a lot we can do." Ronnie Anne responds with a nonchalant voice, "We can stay friends since it'd be awkward to have a big relationship the way we're now."

Linka rubs the back of her head, "Well… actually… I was wondering if we could try to have a relationship like this… and well, ya know… see where it goes."

The two counterparts look at each other for a moment, before turning back to the girl.

"Look, Linka, we both like you back, but I don't think that would be a great idea." Ron Andy rubs the back of his head.

"I agree Lame-O, something's gonna break if we try that out." Ronnie Anne then turns and leans back against the tree branch.

*Sigh* "It was worth a shot." Linka turns and does the same, "So what do you guys think we should do?"

Ron Andy sits next to Linka on the side opposite Ronnie Anne, "How about you date both of us and make a choice? I mean, that won't be too awkward now would it?"

The two girls debate the idea for a moment, and yet wordlessly shrug in response.

"It can work." Ronnie smiles, "I get her on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays…"

"And I'll get her on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays." Ron Andy finishes.

"Then I choose one of you to keep going out with?" Linka raises an eyebrow.

"I think that's fair." The counterparts look at each other for a moment, before Ron Andy continues, "Ya know, I'm doin' this cause I like her, not you."

"Same kid, same." Ronnie Anne chuckles, and with that the trio simply sit under the shade of the tree.

 _ **With Bobby and Loki…**_

Bobby runs along in exhaustion, "Why isn't my kid brother doing this?"

Loki flatly responds, "Because the last time we tried forcing the kid to be the ultimate boyfriend, it almost ended with him in a pine box without air holes, and the mother of all groundings for us. We're steering clear of him until he's too deep in with my sister to think about leaving her again."

Bobby looks on in confusion, "Care to explain?"

Loki awkwardly rubs his head, "We tried to make sure he was ready for Lincoln... we pushed him so hard that he ended up breaking up with her... and then we almost buried him."

"Seriously?"

"When your life revolves around making one girl happy, you get used to it."

* * *

" _ **Presenting, Me, Myself, And I! With guest singer, Linka Loud!"**_ The announcer's voice echoes through the venue, stirring up crowds for the oncoming band.

"You ready for this Linka?" Luke nervously holds his sister's shoulder, "This is the first time you're gonna be singin' with us."

"Yeah, I'll be fine Luke." Linka cheerfully holds the wireless microphone the venue had given her to work with, "I'll be ready when you are."

Luna walks passed the duo with that, "K guys, we're on now! Come on!"

Linka smiles, "Comin' Luna!"

"Heh, we're waitin' for ya love." Luna then steps out onto the stage, with Linka following immediately after.

"Ready for this Luke?" Nyla walks up to her boyfriend, and throws her arm around him.

Luke nods, "I always am Nyla." He gently nuzzles her forehead, much to her enjoyment.

"Still feelin' weird to be datin' your counterpart from another dimension?" Nyla chuckles, "I mean, we're practically related!"

"Haha!" Luke laughs, "Yeah, but we're not, and I like ya Love."

Nyla smiles, "Heh all right then." She then turns and steps towards the stage, "Come on, we don't wanna keep our fans waiting!"

The young man nods, and the duo then walks on stage as well.

"You ready to rock?!" Linka shouts, causing the crowd to cheer in excitement.

Luke hits his drumsticks together three times to start the beat, while Luna and Nyla begin to strum their guitars.

And with that, Linka begins to sing, "Crashing through the crowded halls, dodging sibs like ping-pong balls, just to reach the bathroom on time!" She glances around the crowd for a moment, catching sight of a certain family watching in excitement as she does so, "Leapin' over laundry piles, diapers you can smell for miles, girl's gotta do what she can, to survive!"

Then together, the band sings, "In the Loud House, in the Loud House!"

"Duck, dodge, push and shove!" Linka sings, followed by the band singing, "It's how we show our Love!"

"In the Loud House, in the Loud house! Ten boys, eleven girls!" And together they sing, "Wouldn't trade it for the world!"

The crowd cheers even louder, their excitement peaking faster than expected.

" _Heh, well this is gonna be a fun night!"_ Linka thinks, before she glances back at her family and nods, signaling the next song to be played.

* * *

Lisa watches with a bored expression as two of her elder sisters and elder brother fusses over her gender-inverted doppelganger as they worked on his costume, having already finished Linka's, _"I still find it odd to think of Lincoln in such a manner."_

She shakes her head, and climbs up on her bed, _"Ugh, why are they interested in comic books?! Why would someone as brilliant as herself be interested in irrelevant fiction, when there where still plenty of real mysteries to uncover?_!"

"You ok Lisa?" Linka looks at her younger sister, "You look bored out of your mind."

"Yes, my status is all right." She drops her back and lies down on her bed, "I am just curious as to why you are so interested in such a worthless endeavor? I mean, none of it is real!"

"Of course Lisa." Levi turns to face his counterpart, "But that is what makes going to comic-book conventions so worthwhile." He holds his hand over his heart for a moment, "The ideas, the imagination, everything, just waiting for the right mind to make it real!"

"Plus, when it comes to children your age, some imagination can help a lot." Linka then walks over and places a soft, comforting hand on his sister's shoulder, "After all, haven't you ever wanted to stop being Doctor Loud and just be Lisa, just for a while?"

Lisa hesitates for a moment, an unsure feeling rushing through her body, _"Maybe… just maybe it couldn't hurt…"_ She turns and waves him off, "I am quite content with what I am there is no need for some tomfoolery and I will not be a part of it."

"Oh well, suit yourself." Linka turns around and continues to work on Levi's costume with Leni working as well.

"Like, I think we should add a tie!" she suggests.

"Why?" Linka looks up at the young woman.

"I dunno… I think it'll look cute!" She responds.

Lisa then takes a deep breath, _"Maybe I do need to take a break… I have been working non-stop to complete my projects…"_ With that thought, she turns around and awkwardly touches her sister's hand. "Linka…."

"Yeah Lisa?" Linka turns to face the child.

"May I join your trip to the comic book convention."

"Of course Lisa." Linka smiles, "In fact, I've got a costume all set up for ya already!"

Levi adds, "It's of Aleister's partner!"

"What have I just gotten myself into?" Lisa asks, before she is overrun by the costume.

 _ **Later…**_

Linka looks at her sister, "So, did you enjoy?"

"Yes." Lisa nods. _"More than I'm willing to admit."_

Levi then asks, "Wanna come join us again?"

Lisa immediately answers, "Yes!"

And with that, they cheerfully head home.

* * *

*Yawn* "What a day." Linka quips as she turns to enter her newly expanded closet… only for a hand to come from behind and pull the door closed. _"What the?!"_ Before she can react, the same hand turns her around to face the source: her sisters, all dressed in what they wore for that sleepover she had with Clyde so long ago.

"Uhh, hey guys, what's up?" Linka nervously asks.

"And where do you think your going twerp?" Lori goes, a hint of commanding annoyance filling her voice.

"We heard how cozy you got with those guys, and now you think we're just gonna let you go off by yourself the first night back?" Lana flares her arms in excitement, "You've got another thing comin' sis!"

"Well, I just thought I-" Linka starts, though she's cut off before she can finish.

Luna strums her guitar, giving off a soft beat, "We've got a lot of catching up to do love. We wanna to hear about **everything**."

Lisa doesn't hesitate to add, "And since we wished to spend some time with you, our new counterpart siblings have graciously given us time to reacquaint ourselves and hear of your experiences with interdimensional travel and the relevance of infinity."

Lucy then appears at her side, "You've seen infinite worlds full of infinite possibilities. Which means you most likely gazed into the bleakest, darkest pits of despair beyond imagination. Their descriptions would allow me to create my magnum opus of agony."

"Uhh, ok…" Linka nervously goes, _"Heh these girls are as excited as ever!"_

Though, of course, Lola waves her off, "Forget that! I wanna hear all about what went on with her and that Ron Andy guy. I heard there was a slow dance! And kissing too!"

Lucy stares on for a moment, before simply shrugging, "I'll admit, that does sound more interesting."

"Yeah! You gotta tell us all the juicy details!" Luan flares her arms, "It's gotta be meaty!"

Lynn jumps over to ask, "Was it different from Ronnie Anne?"

"Like, you gotta tell us!" Leni adds.

And before she can respond, her orange nightgown is shoved into her arms… only for the girls to pull her into the downstairs living room where sleeping bags, candy and pizza wait for them all in a circle. With Linka's bag placed in the middle so the white haired girl can't escape.

Upon seeing this, Linka simply smiles, _"Heh, I expected this much, but then again, what else is new?"_ She then puts on her new clothes, "Heh, all right girls, I'll tell ya everything!"

And the girls respond by squealing in excitement.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Luke stands next to Loki, watching the sight from above. "So uhh..."

"Yeah Luke?" Loki turns to his second-in-command.

"We're getting her tomorrow, right?" The young man's voice fills with worry.

Loki nods, "You know it." Before he turns back to the scene, "After all, she's our sister too."

"Heh, of course." Luke smiles, "She's both Linka and Lincoln Loud."

The eldest brother then smiles as well, "And she's our brother and our sister."

 _ **The End.**_

15-4-25-19-19-5-21-19 8-1-19 18-5-20-21-14-5-4 20-15 9-20-8-1-3-1, 4-5-6-5-1-20-5-4 20-8-5 19-21-9-20-15-18-19 1-14-4 20-1-11-5-14 2-1-3-11 8-9-19 11-9-14-7-4-15-13.

2-15-20-8 8-5 1-14-4 12-9-14-3-15-12-14 12-15-21-4 1-18-5 6-9-14-1-12-12-25 8-15-13-5.

 **A/N And that was the third and final ending! I hope you guys enjoyed it! I thank Exotos135, Insane Master Writer Studio, Wolvenstrom and Sunblast-X for their opinions on how this should've gone! Also, i apologize for not updating Unwavering Bonds yesterday, I've hit severe writer's block with that one. Instead, I'll be updating FAL next Saturday.**

 **There are just 2 more epilogue chapters left.**

 **Fun Fact: Here is the original ending for this story! (Made November 25** **th** **2016):**

His eyes go wide in shock, "Really?! You're really going to send me home?!"

"Yes. No tricks, no issues, just a simple trip home." I then open two portals, one blue and white one on my right and a pink and white one on my left, "The choice is yours. You can return home to dimension C-137 or return to your new home of 63 apostrophe backslash."

I smile, before walking over and kicking the boy in the crotch. "Someone on A-113's internet asked me to do that before you made your choice."

The young man holds his aching crotch in pain before standing up and walking over to the portal of his choice.

He looks at me for a moment, before stepping in and returning to his life.

A young adult wakes up in a familiar room. They take a quick turn and gaze out into the morning sky from their rounded window, and smile. They then scan the familiar room with hope filling their body and soul.

Familiar voices emanate from the home just outside their door.

They smile once more and whisper,

"I'm home."


	39. Reality Gazers 4: Omakes!

**A/N Wow, 39 weeks. 1 more and this story will end exactly 9 months from where it started. Haha! Anyways, a few months ago, Wolvenstrom and I talked about possible epilogue chapters for this story, what resulted were several ideas that I could write about! This is what became of those ideas! Also, funny story: I almost thought I had lost the first draft to this story, because when I saved it, I ended up saving it to my biology folder rther than the story folder.**

 **R &R!**

 _ **Story Summary/Prompt: Lisa and Levi make a new set of dimensional goggles!**_

Epilogue Four: Reality Gazers 4- Omakes!

 _ **A Few Days Later…**_

"Are you sure this is a good idea Lisa? I mean, I understand that the possibility of being able to view alternate realities is quite fascinating, but…" Levi's voice trails off while he continues to work on the lenses to a new set of goggles.

"Of course Levi!" Lisa waves him off while, before putting a welding mask on and beginning to work on what appears to be a set of gloves and boots, "With these, we'll be able to transcend the boundaries of our own place in the multiverse and bring in alien technologies!"

"I know, I designed the blasted things after all." The male scientist's voice fills with frustration, "I am just worried that if these work, we'll end up creating issues similar to those that resulted in our universes being merged in the first place."

Lisa raises the mask before answering, "Levi, while you were working on creating the fuel for those goggles, as well as creating the advanced circuit boards, I ran the calculations." She raises a small calculator, "The chances of an anomalous event such as that are extremely low, only about one hundred and fifty-six million to-."

"Lisa, you are aware that the chances of such an event occurring increase significantly after one mentions the unlikeliness of said event." Levi adjusts his glasses, "I should know, the chances of my goggles destroying the world were extremely low, but lo and behold, the contributed to dimensional collapse.

Levi hesitates for a moment, before looking down upon his dimensional goggles once more, "Well all right Lisa… let's just be careful. Throwing caution to the wind was the cause of my dimension falling apart the other day."

"Of course! I've learned from the mistakes, and have planned accordingly." The female scientist then opens up a nearby cooler, causing a cloud of smoke to emanate from it, "This Enriched Nether Ice should be able to stabilize the machine long enough to prevent holes from forming."

"I know… but just in case, I'll program GLaDOS to run calculations during use to make sure that nothing strange happens…" Levi turns to face Lisa, "If that's all right with you of course."

"Very well." Lisa reluctantly agrees, before returning to her welding work.

Levi responds by turning and continuing with his goggles.

 _ **The Next Day…**_

"All right Linka, I need you to tell me what you saw when you were using Levi's dimensional goggles." Lars speaks with an eager, yet rather monotone voice. He holds his pen intently, ready to scribble down every single word Linka could possibly answer him with.

"Are ya sure Lars?" The young, white-haired girl sits next to him, resting upon the wall of his coffin. She awkwardly rubs the back of her head and looks away for a moment, "I mean some of the stuff I've seen mostly happened because GLaDOS wanted to screw with me."

Lars nods, "Yes. I want to know everything!" He looks down at his blank pen and paper, "There is little you can do to dissuade me from this.

"Well… ok then." Linka sighs in defeat, "I guess I'll start with…" She rubs her chin for a moment, "Actually…"

"What's the problem?" Lars eagerly leans forward, silently praying that she could remember.

Linka shakes her head, "Sorry Lars, but a lot of this stuff happened a long time ago, I really can't remember exactly what I saw when I was using Levi's dimensional goggles to view other worlds."

"Dangit." The young Goth looks away for a moment, "I knew expecting you to remember something from a few months ago was a bad idea."

"I'm sorry Lars." Linka places a hand on the young boy's shoulder, "But, if it's any consolation, maybe Levi and Lisa can help."

"How?" He tilts his head in curiosity.

Linka shrugs, "Well, given the fact that they know alternate universes exist, I'm sure they're working on a device capable of not only going to visit them, but also to safely bring stuff back."

"But wouldn't that be more dangerous than it needs to be?" Lars turns back to his paper and starts to write more stuff down.

"Heh, you know those two." Linka can't help but chuckle at the thought of Levi and Lisa working together to complete their latest science project, "They won't stop working on science stuff until they're done." She then hops to her feet and turns to wards the door, "Now come on, let's go pay them a visit."

"Ugh, sigh, fine." Lars hops to his feet as well, before following his sister along, and standing behind her.

"Heh, awesome." Linka quips, before she grabs the doorknob and opens up… revealing the flurry of chaos the double-sized hallway had invited.

From what she can see, Leif and Lana run along like dogs as they chase Lexx and Lola, the latter two driving along in Lexx's military car. The two Lynn's chase a random basket ball as it bounces along- though Male Lynn follows it with graceful spins in order to dodge his siblings, while female Lynn simply rushes through everyone in her way.

In the center of the hall, Loki and Lori simply text away, no doubt planning the next time their partners would be coming over… as well as if it would be possible to bring their little siblings with them.

Leni and Loni sit in one of the other corners, simply talking to each other. If she didn't know better, even Linka would think that they were nothing more than a dating couple.

Despite still being in their room, the duo can hear Nyla, Luke and Luna practicing for their next concert, while Luan and Lane try to break their composure with horrible puns.

"I suggest we take the vents." Lucy suddenly appears at the girl's side, thought Linka doesn't flinch.

"Agreed." Lars responds, before turning to face the Gothic Girl, "Have you finished mapping out the vents in this home?"

Lucy nods, "Yes. It took all week, but now I'll be able to go anywhere in the house with no one noticing."

"So can you take us to the room Levi and Lisa are in?" Linka leans in closer, "We wanna see what the two are workin' on."

For a moment, the young girl hesitates, as if unsure if she should or shouldn't give into her older sister's wishes. Yet, with a sigh she nods, "Yeah, I'll take you." She then hops on the bed, before climbing up to the room's vent and crawling inside.

A few minutes later, and the trio jumps out the other end, allowing them to land in the room.

"Why hello there siblings." Lisa greets, while Levi continues, "Truth be told, We weren't expecting you to come by so soon."

"Why's that?" Linka asks, tilting her head as she does so.

"Simple, because we've just completed the newest set of dimensional goggles and we were hoping to test it before you came around." Levi answers, rubbing the back of his head as he does so.

Linka's eyes go wide in shock, "Wait, you made a new set of dimensional goggles?!"

Lisa nods, "Affirmative. We were just about to run the first test of them."

"Can I test it?!" Linka eagerly asks, before turning to her Gothic Brother, "I need it to help Lars with one of his stories.

For a moment, the twin scientists look at each other, before turning back to their sister, "Linka… I don't believe that that would be a good idea." Levi shakes his head. "Especially in light of recent events."

Linka pouts in defeat, "Aww, why not?!"

In response, Lisa walks over to her computer and types away, "You see Linka, during your dimension hopping adventure, Levi informed me that you used his set of dimensional goggles so much that you ran out of fuel to run them." She then opens up a program showing just how much fuel they used, "The first version of the goggles used low amounts of Liquid Divinium extracted from the Pizzazium Infinionite to poke a small hole in space-time."

"However, do to your constant use, you created big holes, causing everyone to almost get taken in by it." Levi finishes, worry filling his voice.

"So you're worried that I'm gonna use the goggles so much that I'm gonna cause another dimensional collapse.

"Affirmative sis." Levi responds, before looking up at her with a begging gaze, "Please do not make this harder than it has to, we wish to test the device first, before you go and use it."

Yet, Linka simply shakes her head, "Guys, you don't have to worry about that stuff anymore, the reason I used the goggles so much was because I was homesick and wanted to see my sisters again." She holds her hand over her heart, "But now I'm home with you guys!" she then motions towards the equipment, "Plus, who else are ya gonna have test those things? If the A.I. is anything like GLaDOS, you're gonna see some weird stuff before you reach wherever you're looking for.

Levi and Lisa turn to each other with that.

 _ **A Few Minutes Later…**_

"Are you sure you wanna do this Linka?" Levi fumbles with the numerous wires and circuits required to connect the new set of dimensional viewing goggles to the TV, "I mean… this could cause you to become slightly depressed due to the amount of possibilities you are no longer capable of undertaking."

"I still agree." Lisa on the other hand adjusts the gloves and boots to Linka's hands and feet sizes, "This equipment will make it so that you're practically living where you view… though no one will be able to see you unless you turn off the cloaking device…"

Yet, their sister simply waves them off, "I'll be fine, really I will." She smiles and grunts while Lisa tightens the equipment, sealing it to her body.

"I still fail to grasp what you found so interesting about just watching us from where you were." Lisa speaks up, before finishing securing the device, "All you were able to do is watch."

"Lisa, when you're extremely homesick, just being able to see the place you came from helps." Linka answers.

That's when Lori and Loki come down the stairs, both still texting… though Loki stops once he notices the scientists working with Linka, and Lucy and lars standing by silently.

"Uhh… what are you doing?" He asks, "you know what mom and dad said about messing with the TV again."

"Don't worry. All they're doin' is connecting their device to the TV." Linka waves him off, "I'm sure it's not gonna do anything crazy."

"I hope so sis." Loki crosses his arms in annoyance, "After what happened a few days ago, well, I'd be a bit worried about anything that involves poking holes in the space-time continuum."

Yet, the young woman remains undeterred, "Don't worry about it Loki, I mean, what are the-"

"Never mention the odds Lincoln." Nyla cuts in as she descends the stairs as well, "In my experience, the moment you mention just how unlikely something is to occur, that exact thing will have a near perfect chance of happening."

Linka chuckles, "All right, all right fine. I won't mention the odds."

"By the way, you have yet to explain what you did when you used the MacGuffin to fix everything." Levi finishes setting up the TV connection and begins to work on the connection to their equipment, "After all, according to what we've heard, activating a reset like that has major ramifications…. Some that might hinder equipment such as this."

"Simply put, I fixed the world… as well as I could at least…" She awkwardly rubs the back of her head with her gloved hand while Lisa works on equipping the other, still unsure of exactly how to explain what it was like to have infinite power.

Lisa looks up from her work, raising an eyebrow in interest, "So what did you do to integrate our dimensions Bro- sister unit?"

"It'd take a while to explain, but let's just say combining worlds is a lot like putting together a thousand piece jigsaw with no picture. It all fits, but you have to go over every piece. I kept as much as I could that affected us. Integrated and replaced some historical figures I read up on that I frankly found cooler. And I kept as many of our friends around as I could." She continues, looking up as she does so."

"And what about that parts left over?" Loki cuts in, "Shouldn't they literally be trying to come back to our world?"

"I was kinda forced to just push them out into the inter-dimensional void…" She turns away, "I'm sure that everything's just gonna reform out there and make another dimension or something…" for a moment, she considers what it would be like to exist and the next to wake up in the void between dimensions… only to immediately push that thought to the back of her mind.

"And that's just… ok?" Lori shoves her phone in her pocket, "That literally sounds crazy."

Nyla shrugs with that, "Everything should be. Anomalies are basically just stuff added to realities. A given reality usually doesn't pay much attention to things missing from it anymore than you'd miss an appendix. It's history will write those things out, and re-write them to include what was added." The ex-hunter then turns to the young girl, "Plus she has the matter key. She can pretty much do whatever she wants with that."

"For example, it's no longer Ludwig von Beethoven, it's Erin now." Linka cuts in, "Though, I didn't mess with world leaders and stuff like that, or else everything wouldn't make sense anymore."

"I see." Lisa finishes working on the second set of materials, before adjusting her glasses and turning away, "Well by the sound of it, you seem to have done a rather… mediocre job at integrating two distant dimensions." A hint of annoyance fills the young girl's voice with that.

"I'm sorry. I guess I should have followed your example in using omnipotent power to reshape reality. I mean all I did was integrate a select amount of people into this universe while make sure to avoid the 'Seven Degree's of Kevin Bacon' effect and end up doubling the population, as swap around some important historical figures with their reverse other gendered counterparts." Linka shrugs.

"No one likes a show-off." Boy Lynn walks into the room, while girl Lynn just laughs, "Speak for yourself kid. I'm the queen of show offs!"

"Heh, anyways," Linka laughs, before continuing, "I could see everything across infinite universes at once Lis. I obviously had a lot more to work with when I had the power so I could handle that without my brains melting out my ears."

"Oh… well besides that, do you know what else you did?" Lisa rubs her chin, "it would help when calibrating this device after all."

Linka shrugs, "I legitimately don't know. A lot besides what I told you is a blur right now."

"G'ahh!" Four voices shout before a toy car crashes down the stars, while the two dog twins follow… causing a car crash by the door.

"Ugh… Uncle! Uncle!" Lexx shouts, prompting Leif to help him out of the wreck.

Lana on the other hand pulls Lola out, before licking her.

"Eww! Lana!" Lola tries to push her away, but to no avail.

"Haha!" Luan shouts, before throwing her head back in laughter, "Now that's what I call I morning lick!"

Lane follows it up by adding, "You got me there! Now all they ned is the **crash**!" And with that, the two comedians walk into the room as well.

"So like, I thought, why don't we go on a date?!" Leni shrugs while holding onto Loni's hand.

"I don't see why not!" Loni responds, blushing as he does so, before turning to face the living room- the whole thing now filled with their siblings. "Like, what's goin' on here?"

"Well, I was just talkin' about what I did with the Macguffin while I had it so…" Linka goes.

Lana immediately jumps over to the young girl, "Did ya do a bunch of cool stuff with it?!" Her eagerness radiates, while her twin just walks over calmly.

Linka smiles, "You mean the unlimited power to do anything?"

"Yeah!" Lana flares her arms for emphasis.

"The power that must be used with absolute responsibility or else the world could end?" Linka continues, her voice prodding the younger girl to answer.

"Yeah!" She answers again.

Instead of going on with her prodding, Linka simply steps back and shrugs, "I didn't really do much with it." Holds her arms at her sides, "All I did was fix everything and send us here."

Lana is taken back in disappointment, "What?!"

Leif promptly cuts in, "Ahh boo. I thought you'd add something cool! Like Sharknadoes!"

"I totally would have, but no matter what I could do I already knew there were infinite universes where that already exists. It was like having a TV with infinite channels that you could watch all at the same time." She then awkwardly rubs the back of her head, "Plus, I don't wanna put you guys into any more danger like that…"

"Huh, all right then." Levi stands up and looks at the machine that he and his counterpart had completed building, "Dimensional viewing goggles version three are complete!"

"Really?!" Linka turns towards the two scientists, the two four-year-olds standing proudly next to the TV, with Levi holding a small plate and Lisa holding a small helmet.

Lisa nods, "Affirmative." She steps over and hands the goggles over, "These dimensional goggles will not cause any 'holes' to form during their use."

"That's good." Nyla chuckles, "The whole reason why we ended up coming along is because the first version popped so many holes that it actually threatened dimensional stability.

"Awesome, what else do these things do?" Linka then secures the headset, making sure to move the microphone away from her mouth.

"With the gloves, now you'll be able to interact with objects you find." Levi holds up the plate, before placing it in front of the TV, "And this plate allows you to bring interesting items back.

" _Now that I think of it, there is a dimension I'd like to see right now…"_ A sinister smile forms on Linka's face for a moment, before she relaxes, "All right then, "And what's the TV connection for?"

"So we can monitor the test." Lisa cuts in, before walking over and planting herself on the couch, "After all, what good is a test run if we can't see if they actually work?"

"All right then." Linka smiles, "Just warnin' ya guys, sometimes these goggles can show you things that can't be unseen."

'We'll be fine." Levi waves her off, before dropping next to Lisa.

"Whatever, I might as well watch too." Loki quips, with Lori nodding in agreement. And after a few more moments, the entire family, plus Nyla, is sitting on the family couches watching Linka.

"Heh all right then, here we go!" Linka declares, before flipping the on switch, _"Please don't explode, please don't explode!"_

" _ **Dimensional Viewing Goggles 3.0 Initialized."**_

Immediately, Linka turns towards her genius siblings, "Seriously guys?! Did you seriously have to use GLaDOS again?!"

"Sorry Linka." Levi shakes his head, "But Cortana didn't help much, and Wheatley ended up breaking the other set of goggles. I lack the funds to waste on more video game AI's"

" _Dangit."_ Linka shakes her head, "Fine, I'll just deal with it." She then holds out her hand, causing a small menu to appear at her fingertips, "All right then, here we go. GLaDOS, initialize random dimensional shuffle. Use saved directive."

" _ **Initializing saved directives from Dimensional Goggles Version One."**_ The AI then allows another screen to appear in front of her, _**"Please enter the description of the dimension you would like to visit in order to allow calibration to begin."**_

"All right." Linka quickly scribbles in her destination, before hitting initialize.

Immediately, GLaDOS processes the line of code, before declaring, _**"Beginning calibration."**_ Causing a flash of light to force Linka to close her eyes.

And when she opens them, she stands in the center of an open field, with nothing but a family of bunny rabbits standing in front of her.

" _ **Welcome to dimension ORGN-25: In this dimension, you and everyone you know are animals."**_

"Huh, why do I find that rather fitting?" Linka quips, before looking around for a moment, allowing her gaze to fall upon the set of rabbits.

" **Simple Linka, because our family's are so big we might as well be rabbits!"** Lane puns, though no one groans. Instead everyone simply nods in agreement.

"Heh ok." Linka chuckles for a moment, before watching a white rabbit hug- or at least try to hug- the twenty-five other rabbits, some brown and some blonde, that the young girl assumes to be her siblings.

"All right GLaDOS, next dimension!" Linka commands, and the flash of light beams once again.

* * *

" _Heh, I wonder what sadistic mess of dimension GLaDOS is gonna send me to now."_ Linka chuckles for a moment, before she opens her eyes again, bringing Her own room into view once more, "Huh, so I'm back in my room again, huh?" She looks around for a moment, allowing her gaze to fall upon the Luna and Lincoln counterparts present.

" _I wonder what's goin' on here."_ Linka chuckles, before simply watching the scene unfold.

"Lincoln, I'm your big sister and I can tell you anything, right?" Luna asks, nervousness filling her voice.

"Uh, yeah? Why, is something wrong?" The Lincoln counterpart puts his game on hold for a moment, before turning to Luna.

Luna sighs, trying to mentally prep herself to tell her brother the news. Though, instead of speaking, she pulls out a small pregnancy test, a pink plus present on its display.

"Luna… a-are you?" Lincoln tries to ask, only to receive a slow nod in confirmation.

"I am, bro. Which means you're gonna be an uncle." Luna looks at the boy with a nervous smile.

"Welp, that escalated quickly!" Linka claps her hands together, "What happened here GLaDOS?"

" _ **Dimension SBX-ML-19: A dimension in which Luna ends up pregnant as a teenager."**_

"Well… at least she has a big family to support her." Linka quips.

" **Hey! Teenage pregnancy is serious!"** Luna goes, though she can tell the rest of her family is staring at her.

" _ **Do not worry, according to my calculations, everything turns out fine in the end."**_

"Heh great. Now let's go to the next dimension GLaDOS." And with that, Linka shuts her eyes again.

* * *

When she opens her eyes this time, she finds herself standing in the middle of a bakery, with Lynn Sr. and Rita. as the bakers… as well as shaped like bread.

"Uhh… what's going on here?" Linka looks around in confusion for a moment.

" _ **Welcome to dimension BRD-482: A dimension in which man evolved from bread."**_

" **So this is the dimension where we're bread!" Lars speaks up, "I was wondering how any of it worked!"**

Linka chuckles at the thought for a moment, before glancing at a neaby set of cornbread, the two pieces using their bread-arms to hug.

She chuckles while she watches Lynnoaf wince from Lincornbread hugging her tight. No doubt Lynnoaf would take some more baking to get those wrinkles out.

"Easy bro. Your gonna pinch me in the middle I you squeeze any harder." Lynnoaf laughs, though Lincornbread doesn't let go.

"K GLaDOS, next!" Linka goes, prompting another burst of light.

* * *

When Linka opens her eyes this time, she finds herself standing on a floating rock surrounded by other rock fragments, each with strange items resting upon them, as well as the Lincoln counterpart standing next to her.

"What is this place?" The Lincoln looks around for a moment, surprise filling his voice, "And how did I end up in here?"

The boy then jumps from his featureless platform onto another- this one with a phone in the middle. _"Well, might as well follow him!"_ She thinks, before jumping up and onto the platform as well. Quickly, he approaches the object and takes it in his hand... causing the space to shift instantly; All but the platform they are on vanishes from existence. The clouded sky went from grey to light blue, and the dark ambiance is replaced by constant ringtones, with followed by a particular persons appearing above Lincoln.

It is Lori, or at least someone who looks like her, bounded and restrained by blue wrapping with a keyhole in the middle of it. "Lori?!" Lincoln shouts as he dropped the phone in shock, causing the space to return to normal.

Linka then watches as the Lincoln jumps off to repeat the process.

"Wow… that was strange… where am I GLaDOS?" Linka asks.

 _ **Dimension EXTS-COR-521: A dimension in which the proto-version of the canon version of your homes are connected.**_

" **That must make ID's hard to deal with! You've got two of a kind!"** Lane puns, eliciting laughter from Luan and groans from the rest of his family.

Linka simply facepalms, "Next!"

* * *

This time, when she opens her eyes, she finds herself standing in the middle of a hospital bedroom surrounded by doctors dressed in full blue scrubs, "Uhh, where am I?"

" _ **Welcome to Dimension PRH-897: A dimension in which your previous adventure happened to an adult version of you."**_

"G'ahh!" A woman screams, prompting Linka to turn to them, "What the-" And immediately, she is met by the sight of an adult Linka giving birth, "I'm gonna kill Ron Andy later!"

" _What the heck?!"_ She thinks, before shouting, "GLaDOS?! What the heck?!"

" _ **This isn't incest and doesn't involve sexual relations. You have set no directive to filter out this dimension."**_

"Ya know what… good job GLaDOS, you really love finding loopholes." Linka shakes her head in disappointment.

" _ **It's what I've been built to do."**_ The AI chuckles, before Linka turns to the scene. A few minutes pass before she finally finishes bringing a new life into the world. At which time, the hospital room is filled up by the twenty boys and girls that that version of her was the mother to.

For a moment, the woman hesitates, holding the bundle in her arms, though she can't help but smile, "I was your father and now am your mother, haha life is strange."

A young ten-year-old, no doubt a young version of Rita, steps forward, "Mommy?"

The woman smiles and presents the girl with the child, "Meet your new brother, Rita."

"I don't know whether to be confused or happy for her." Linka quips.

" **Do both! This is literally the cutest thing I've seen all day!"** Lori answers, much to Linka's dismay.

" **When I get the chance, I will buy you a new video game just so you can change the AI, ok Levi?"** Loki goes in response, annoyance and disgust filling his voice, **"I thought this was supposed to be child friendly!"**

"It isn't." Linka flatly responds, "Ok, next!"

* * *

Linka now finds herself standing in a dark kitchen, with no one, but a young, white-haired boy present. Said white-haired boy is raiding the fridge.

"Phew…" He takes a quick look through the contents. From what he can see, the fridge is filled from wall-to-wall with a random assortment of foods, though he doesn't hesitate to quietly grab the juices and milk, as well some of the random snacks that were behind them, shoving them in his light-blue satchel, before he slings the bag over his shoulder, before sneaking though the home. Within minutes, he climbs the old wooden stares with a care only displayed by ghosts.

"Wow, well that just happened." Linka quips, "Uhh GLaDOS, what just happened?"

" _ **Dimension FAL-OU-34: A dimension in which you are an orphan and unrelated to the Louds."**_

She watches the young boy for a moment, as he silently climbs up the stairs, seemingly desperate to find something of value, "Wow… sounds like he's had a tough life…"

" **Without your family, well, life is a tough thing to deal with."** Luke responds, his voice soft against her ears.

" _And I started this whole mess by trying to abandon them."_ She thinks, before taking a deep breath, _"At least everything turned out for the better."_

And with that, she taps her glove and commands, "All right GLaDOS, next dimension!"

* * *

The next time the flash of light forces her to shut her eyes again, she stands in another hospital room, though this time standing at the foot of a hospital bed containing her dimension counterpart- the boy covered scalp to sole in casts and bandages; humming a happy tune. While this dimension's Clyde sits at his side.

"Wow, looks like this version of me has seen better days." Linka can't help but feel sorry for the boy, _"Almost as if I should fix his injuries…"_

" _ **Do not worry about helping him, User: Linka_Loud. Welcome to dimension KRM-550, a dimension in which karma is a quantifiable force and is believed in."**_

"At this rate I'll be a billionaire!" The Lincoln goes, albeit pained as his chest is covered in bandages as well.

"A disabled billionaire. But yeah, a billionaire." Clyde awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "How are you feelin'?"

"Absolutely terrible!" Lincoln answers with a cheerful tone.

" **In a universe where karma is a quantifiable force. Being unlucky or having a lousy childhood is suddenly more tolerable because you'd know that you'd almost certainly be rewarded for putting up with it later."** Levi speaks up..

With Lisa finishing, **"And on the other end of the pole. Jerks and criminals would know full well bad things 'would' happen to them if they remained jerks and criminals… I wonder how law works there."**

" _Heh, I guess here my talent really is having bad luck."_ Linka then holds up her glove and taps away at the screen, _"After all, the worse the luck now means that when Karma finally catches up to him the better off he'll be."_

She then goes, "All right GLaDOS, next!"

* * *

Now Linka finds herself standing in the middle of the Loud House second-floor hallway, the darn thing as crowded as ever. "Welp, net dimension, time for the description GLaDOS!"

" _ **Dimension DFL-998: A dimension in which Lincoln_Loud sustained severe hearing damage as a child."**_

"Oh…" Linka turns and spots her counterpart at the other end of the hallway, holding a small box in his hands.

The white haired boy stares down the hall. Watching the chaos that his sisters brought with them wherever they went. For a moment, he takes in the scene, unsure if he should go along with his next actions. Yet, he looks down at the two red ovals in resting in the box. He takes a deep breath, grabs them in his hand and places them in his ears, turning them on as he does so.

Yelling. Screaming. Rocking. Laughing. A random buffet of chaotic, disjointed noises that had all, but the furthest away of neighbors banging at the door at all hours. The twins' incoherent yelling, Lori's mushy sickeningly sweet talk down her phone, Leni's blubbering while Lily gently patted her sisters back in an effort to calm her down. Luna's loud rocking, followed by Luan punning about the insanity of it all. Lisa's explosions echoing in her room, while Lucy's rather loud crawling in the vents makes her know. All of noises that had made their parents want to tear their ears off half the time; known to him at that moment.

His eyes mist up.

"Noise-E-Budz, you, are, awesome!" He throws his arms in the air, excitement filling his voice… as well as almost hitting Lori.

The young woman glances over her shoulder, though not bothering to look right at him, "Hey watch it twerp! I'm trying to talk to Bobby about what color tux to wear to prom!"

He chuckles, "Sorry Lori. Tell Bobby I said hi. And, if all else fails, you can't go wrong with a black tux." His voice fills with a soft joy.

"Ugh, whatever…" Lori turns back to her phone, "So like I said I li…" Then, the realization hits her, "Wait… what?"

Suddenly, the ever-present chaos the Loud House releases… just stops, with all of the sisters staring at the duo, their eyes going wide in surprise.

"What?" Lincoln tilts his head in confusion

"L-Lincoln…" Lori's voice trembles, "What did you say?"

She furrows her brow for a moment, trying to replay the last minute in her mind. She was talking on her phone, Lincoln threw his hands up for some reason, the she'd told him to watch it because she was having a very important talk with Bobby, not even looking at him when he answered and…"

That when everyone realizes what had happened, " _He answered…"_

She hadn't even turned to look at him. Lincoln read lips. He couldn't have answered her unless.

Her eyes dew up. "Lincoln...did you hear what I said?"

He smiles, before reaching in and pulling out two small red ovals and nodding. "Loud and clear."

In an instant, the young man is overrun by his ten sisters.

"Wow…" Linka goes, unsure of just how to respond to the sight.

" **Ya know… I've been a hunter for years now and well… *sniffle* scenes like this still tug at my heartstrings."** Nyla can't help but tear up as well

"Good for him." Linka smiles, _"After all… infinite universes equal infinite possibilities."_ Then she taps the glove again, "All right GLaDOS, next dimension.

* * *

Now when Linka opens her eyes, she's standing in Lisa's room, with the Lincoln and Lisa counterparts standing by her, and the scientist holding a small device in her hands.

"A shrink ray?" Lincoln goes.

"Indeed," Lisa says. "It can drastically reduce the volume of any object-"

"N-n-no, I know what a shrink ray does, but..."

he stepps further into the room. "It... it just doesn't seem possible. How would it even work?"

Lisa shoots him a cold look. "Well, Lincoln, there are two ways I could respond to that. I could describe, in detail, what the device can do on a molecular level, using scientific theories far beyond your level of comprehension..."

She grabs one end of the cylinder and started to push it counterclockwise. "...or I could simply demonstrate. Which would you prefer?"

Lincoln sighs. "The second one."

"That's what I thought," Lisa responds. "Now, if you'll observe the layout of the room, you'll notice that I've already set up a target for the apparatus."

On the right side of the room, propped up against the wall, is a wooden stool with a head of cabbage resting atop.

"As of now, the miniaturization apparatus is fully operational and ready to fire. Are you ready to see its first successful test run?"

Lincoln gulped. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

"Then feast your eyes on _this_!"

She clenches her hand into a fist and hammers a switch placed atop the shrink ray. Lincoln holds his breath waiting for it to go off.

For two agonizingly suspenseful minutes, nothing happened. At the two minute mark, the machine started to sputter, and a tiny plume of smoke started emanating from the back, but that was the only sign they received that the machine was doing anything at all.

"Lisa, how long is this supposed to take?" he asks.

"Be patient!" she answers. "This device is the first of its kind, you know!"

More time passes, and still nothing happens.

"Okay, I'm out. Let me know when it actually starts working."

"Lincoln, wait!" Lisa cries. "I'm sure it won't be long before the device is fully calibrated!"

"Lisa, I've got other things to do today. I'm not going to spend the whole day standing in your room waiting for that thing to go off. I'm leaving." Lincoln turns around and started to walk towards the door, prompting Lisa to jump off the table and try to chase him.

"Lincoln, please! It just needs a little more time!" The young girl leaps off the table, runs across the room and grabs ahold of Lincoln's pant leg. "Just a few more minutes, I promise! After that, I'll let you... let you..."

Then, just as Lisa looks back to check the progress of the device, it fires.

"Uh-oh."

"Huh, so a dimension where Lisa invents a shrink ray and accidently shoots me with it?" Linka quips, "Sounds like the start to great story."

" _ **Affirmative, this is dimension MTD-SL-16."**_

" **Note to self: when designing shrink ray, decrease charge time."** The scientists answer in unison.

" **Agreed."** Boy Lynn chuckles.

" **That took more patience than I had!"** Girl Lynn adds.

"Heh, I'll bookmark this dimension, I wanna visit it later." Linka chuckles, before tapping away at her glove, "All right, next dimension GLaDOS!"

* * *

" **So, uhh, Lincoln, what dimension are you, like, looking for?"** Leni nervously asks, while Loni continues, **"You've been searching dimensions for two hours now."**

"Just lookin' for a certain somebody." Linka then finds herself standing in small bedroom with a young man sitting at his computer.

" _ **Welcome to dimension A-113…. Uhh… you don't exist in this dimension."**_ GLaDOS goes in confusion, _**"Strange…**_ "

"Found it." Linka smiles, before tapping her gloves, _**"Initializing interaction modules."**_

" **Uhh Lincoln, what is this world?"** Lana nervously asks.

" **And why did you turn on your gloves?"** Leif adds.

Lincoln responds by tapping the young man's shoulder causing him to flinch, before turning around, "What the?!"

"Hi there, I'm Linka loud of dimension C-137-63i'\\." The young woman crosses her arms, "Are you Omega Ultra?"

The young man nods, "Uhh, yeah… why are you in my home?!"

"Oh, no reason." Linka chuckles, before clenching his fists, "While I was rebuilding my universe, the guardian of fate told me that you told him to kick me in the balls before sending me home, is that true?"

The young man's eyes go wide, "Oh no."

"I'll take that as a yes." And with that, Linka throws the first punch, sending it straight into the writer's gut, forcing him to double over in pain, "That was for writing my story and torturing me!"

"But, what if you only exist because I wrote your story?" The young man clutches his abdomen in pain.

Linka follows that up by kicking him in the crotch, "That was for telling Ethioth to do it to me!" Then he kicks him again, "And that's for asking that question.

"Ugh." He groans, glancing up at the open computer as he does so, "Why did I write the word 'repeatedly' when writing this scene?!"

"Because that's what I'm doing!" She then kicks his side.

"Why did I say you strong as a girl?!" The author shouts in pain. "You're a cartoon here!"

Linka then relents for a moment, "What?"

 _ **A Few Minutes Later…**_

"So Lincoln, got anything to say about the cartoon?"

The young girl, looking bored after watching the episodes preceding 'One of the Boys, simply shrugs, "Meh, not bad. I like how things turned out for me better."

" **Wait… why didn't he know about the 'fight protocol' before we had that fight between Lynn and Lucy a while ago?" Leni asks in confusion.**

Lisa simply shrugs, **The show doesn't appear to be a linear requirement in the programs' viewing outside of the episodes containing our former brother's romantic interest."**

The siblings remain silent for a moment.

Levi promptly translates, **"Outside of episodes with Ronnie Anne, the show can be watched in any order and make just as much sense."**

" **Ahh."** The siblings respond.

Linka promptly turns to Omega, "Stop torturing me!" And with that, she disappears from view.

The young man remains silent for a moment, still in some pain after the beating Linka had done, "You know what… I think I'll stick to simple 'feel good' fics for a while…"

"I'm watching you." A voice whispers, sending a chill up the author's spine.

* * *

After that, Linka pulls her head out of the helmet, "Huh, good job Loki, these goggles work."

"Note to sell, never annoy Linka… ever." Levi scribbles down, before both he and Lisa walk over and disable to goggles."

"Heh, that was fun. Now let's go eat!" Linka laughs, before turning and walking into the kitchen. Everyone else shrugs in response, before following her inside.

20-8-5 1-21-20-8-15-18 13-21-19-20 14-15-23 7-15 20-15 20-8-5 8-15-19-16-9-20-1-12 20-15 5-24-16-12-1-9-14 8-15-23 8-5 7-15-20 9-14-10-21-18-5-4 19-15 2-1-4-12-25

 **A/N And that's the forth epilogue! Only 1 more to go! I thank Exotos135, Insane Master Writer Studio and Wolvenstrom for their help! Props to those that can figure out which of these came from real stories! I wonder if anyone can guess what's gonna happen in the last epilogue.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed! Everything I used belongs to their original owners!**

 **Also, stinger!**

 _ **Meanwhile At An Interdimensional Rest Stop…**_

An old scientist with blue hair takes a drink next to a young, white-haired boy wearing a holo-gear on his left arm, "Nice hardware there kid. Who'd ya narc on to the G.O.F. ta get one a those?"

The white-haired boy smiles, "One of my counterparts."

"Ah the *Burp* usual then." The man drops his shot glass and motions for the bartender to pour him another, "Omnicidal or alternate-self slave trade?"

"The first one." The boy answers, "I saved my multiverse!"

The scientist cracks a small smile, "Nice. The versions of me who are your grandpa or grandma would be proud."

"Umm Rick. I don't think that's something you can say to a stranger." The young boy accompanying the man goes.

Yet, the young boy simply waves him off, "Ehh, it's no trouble. Infinite possibilities and all that. I just came back from a dimension with the whole Benjamin Button thing being how aging works. I might not look it but I'm in my fifties."

"Um. I'm gonna just go over there." The boy points to a corner of the bar, before promptly walking over and standing in it."

Rick laughs, "Nice one. You're kidding about that though right?" He takes another shot, "I'm Rick by the way."

"Heh, I'm Lincoln." He rubs the back of his head, "And sorta… there is a dimension like that. But I'm gonna wait another decade or so before I start visiting."

*Burp* "Can I get the coordinates?" The old man asks.

Lincoln nods, "Of course." Before he holds up his holo-gear and starts tapping away.

"Sweet! Goodbye bald spot!" Rick then downloads the data into his portal gun, before going, "Come on Morty!" And promptly opening a portal and stepping through.


	40. One Loud Family

**A/N Wow, I can't believe it's finally here. Welcome one and all to the final chapter of Stories And Tales From Dimension 63! I have so much stuff to say, but simply put, thank you all for supporting me and helping me out! I hope you enjoy the final story!**

 **And as always, R &R!**

 ** _Story Summary/Prompt: After everything returned to normal, what is life like for the new, even louder family?_**

Epilogue Five: One Loud Family

It seems the end has truly come for this story. Heh, to think, in your time, forty weeks have passed since this was published. In that time, the person publishing this has managed to complete his first year of college as well as start three stories and complete one. My, my, he really hasn't been as productive as I suspected.

For those whom have yet to meet me, I am Ethioth, Guardian of Fate and narrator of the story you have just-

"Get on with it!" A voice calls out.

What the… who's there?!

"The audience! Stop stalling!" Another voice shouts, though more frustrated than the last.

But I have yet to finish my introduction! I haven't said a word about-

"Fine then! If that's how you're gonna act then I guess we should just leave!"

What?! No! Don't go!

"Come on everyone, let's go find a story where the narrator doesn't take up the first five-hundred words of the last chapter just to introduce the fact that they're the narrator!

Wait! You cannot leave! Do you not know how disappointed Omega Ultra will feel if he finds out his audience quit the story because of me?!

"That's your problem, not ours!" Another voice shouts, no doubt this one filled with frustration.

All right, all right fine. I'll get on with the story… err… stories.

"Great!" Yet another voice cheers, before the audience returns to their seats.

*Sigh* The things I do to keep my audience entertained. All right then, that is enough from me. Without further ado, I present the final chapter from my collection of Stories and Tales From Dimension 63.

 _Led through the mist, by the milk-light of moon..._

* * *

"All right guys, you two hungry?" Linka lovingly holds the duo in her arms as she carries them into the kitchen.

"Poo-poo!" The young girl goes, flailing her arms in excitement as she does so.

Meanwhile, her counterpart chooses to grab at the girl carrying them. "Poo-poo!"

The young woman can't help, but smile while she places the twin babies in their high chairs, "All right you two, behave now, I'm gonna go whip ya up something good to eat!" And with that, she turns and begins to file through the fridge.

With their big sister's back turned, Leon doesn't hesitate to start poking his counterpart, "Pwoke! Pwoke!"

In response, Lily tries to block, "Stwop it, stwop it!" She laughs, while desperately trying to hold back her double's rather cute touching.

"Cwme awn sis!" Leon taunts, never relenting on his attacks.

 _"Wait… did they…"_ Linka's eyes go wide in shock for a moment, before she turns and slams the door closed.

"What is it Winka?" The infant girl tilts her head in curiosity.

"Yeah, wat is it?" The boy adds, tilting his head the opposite way.

"Guys!" Linka flares her arms in excitement, before turning and bolting out of the kitchen, leaving a confused Lily and Leon behind.

"Did we do swomething bad?" Lily cautiously turns to the boy next to her.

"I dwon't know…" Leon shakes his head, turning to girl as he does so.

A few moments pass with that, before Linka returns to the kitchen, now dragging Luna along with her, "You gotta see this Luna, you just gotta!"

"What is it, Bro… Sis… Broster?" Luna tries to fight back, against her sister's pull… only to realize that Linka's stronger than she looks, "Why're you so excited all of a sudden?"

Linka immediately lets go of her older sister and motions towards the two toddlers sitting nearby, "I was getting ready to make some food for them and when I turned around, Lily and Leon finally said their first words!"

Luna blinks twice, before tilting her head in confusion, "Uhh… ya know Linc, Lily and Leon said their first words a while ago."

"No! I mean, it's the first time they're not just saying my name or 'poo-poo'! Plus, they're not using swear-words!"

Suddenly, Luna's eyes go wide, "Wait, that means…"

Linka takes the two toddlers in her arms and begins to cradle them, "It means they're growin' up, heh, time really has passed huh?"

"Heh as it always does broster." The young woman then takes the babies from her sister, allowing the white-haired girl to begin making the duo the food she had promised them.

* * *

"All right then…" Levi holds his breath, _"Steady… steady…"_ Slowly, he uses a small set of screwdrivers to carefully remove the screen from the Holo-Gear Lyle had given Linka, exposing the wiring beneath, _"Let's begin the analysis."_

He easily finds an open port to connect to and wastes no time grabbing the wire off his nearby computer and pluging it into the device. Wordlessly, he types in the activation code and a few lines of text, before slamming the enter key, _"Initialize!"_

Within seconds, the computer reads the Holo-Gear's memory and prints out a list of what it had found. Levi quickly grabs the results and reads, before shouting, "This is amazing!"

"Why do you say that?" Lisa looks back at her male counterpart. "I doubt whatever you're working on is as amazing as what I have dubbed the LLDSMDFR: A device capable of making food from water." She then turns back to the drawing board, _"Maybe later I'll be able to create a device that will allow me to be Lincoln in chess…"_

"I have just completed the analysis of the device Lyle had given to our male-turned-female sibling." He turns to piece of paper over to the young girl, "From what I can gather, this device has over one-hundred petabytes worth of data stored on it, with an almost equally numerous amount of functions!" The young boy's voice fills with surprise, "For example, this has the ability to inform the user of the status of themselves and their companions, has an item sorter and online shopping-"

"I could've told you about that, you now?" Linka chuckles as she enters the room, with the rest of the Loud Girls following soon after, "Trust me when I say, an inter-dimensional agency designed to fight anomalies has to have something with an infinite amount of functions to deal with everything." The young woman then takes the device in her hand and taps a button on the side, triggering the Holo-Gear's auto-repair feature.

Lisa then turns and grabs the paper, "Impossible, something like that does not fall what the laws of the universe should dictate!"

"Lisa, we fought an interdimensional demi-god trying to destroy the multiverse in order to create his own, perfect world." Linka secures the Holo-Gear to her wrist, before crossing her arms in annoyance, "You should've forgotten the word impossible at this point."

Instead of trying to counter, the young scientist simply adjusts her glasses and nods, "Very well, I will admit, you do have a point."

"Heh good." Linka loosens up, smiling as she does so.

"So, uhh… what does that thing have on it anyways?" Lori taps away on her phone for a moment, before shoving the device in her pocket. "I literally wanna know."

"From the looks of it… well…." Levi takes the list back from Lisa and rubs the back of his head, "Everything, as I just said."

Luna tilts her head, "So a music player?"

"He just said it has everything." Linka answers, raising the device as she does so, allowing it to display the function.

Luan then raises Mr. Coconuts, "A joke book?"

And Linka answers, her voice starting to fill with annoyance, "Again, it literally has every function you can imagine!"

Yet, Linka's answer doesn't stop Leni from asking, "Like, internet access?"

 _"What part of 'it literally has everything' do you fail to understand?!"_ Linka mentally snaps, though she takes a deep breath and calms herself down before she answers, "Yes, it has all of those things, and most likely has every single function you can as about."

"And you got it for free?!" Lola flares her arms in annoyance. "That's no fair!"

"Well... sort of, remember?" Linka rubs the back of her head, "I did end up being the one to beat Cryptos and save to multiverse."

"Wow Lincoln, care to be more sarcastic?" Lori jokingly smiles, "Plus, we helped ya know!"

"Heh, yeah I could." The young woman shrugs, "I was going through the dimensional catalogue on the Holo-Gear, and apparently, there's a dimension were people **only** speak sarcastically… except when they're trying to be sarcastic so they speak normally. So yeah, I could be. And I appreciate what you guys did"

She then taps away at the gear's rounded screen for a moment, before holding it up to face her sisters, "So, seeing as it's also a media player with access to infinite shows and movies, Luna, remember that movie you were hyped to see, but got canned in pre-production? Wanna steam it from a universe where it was made?"

"You mean I can see School Of Rock 2: Return Of The Roller?!" Luna's eyes go wide, while her voice fills with disbelief.

"Yep." Linka nods and taps away, "I'm gonna set everything up so we can watch it."

"Great!" Luna cheers, "I'll go make the popcorn!"

 ** _Later…_**

"That movie sucked!" Luna throws her arms up in annoyance, "Seriously?! They shipped the boys that hated each other?! That entire movie was set up like it was the fanfic of a fanfic!"

"Sorry Luna…" The girl's voice trails off, before she turns and starts tapping away at her Holo-Gear, "Let me adjust it so we can see it again from a dimension were it didn't suck."

"So now that we have this…" Lola leans over her older sister, allowing her to watch Linka work on setting things up.

"Do we have every single channel?!" Lana finishes, leaning on the girl's other side.

Linka nods, "Yeah, basically." She holds up the device and connects it to the TV, "Don't like what's on TV? A movie didn't end like you wanted? Well now with your handy dimensional remote control, you can just watch a TV show from another dimension in which all jokes are puns, or one where that movie ended just the way you wanted it to!"

"Ya know, something like this seems too good to be true." Girl Lynn raises an eyebrow in skepticism, "What's the catch?"

"The catch is, I was warned never to visit dimension thirty-four or any dimension that ends in thirty-four... for some reason." Linka doesn't bother to turn to face her sister. "Or any dimension with '.exe' in it."

"Because they'll make you see more than you thirty-came for!" Luan holds her abdomen while she laughs at her own pun. Lane, meanwhile, sticks his head in the living room to laugh as well.

Lola then leans closer to her sister, "Is there a universe where I win everything?!"

Lana leans back, crossing her arms as she does so, "And one where Lola isn't so annoying?"

"Yes." Linka flatly answers, "There's also a dimension were Lola **never** wins and is **only** annoying." She then pushes the girls away, trying to make some room for her in the crowded space, "And before you ask me anything else, let me just answer them all with this. No matter what you say, there is a dimension for it. There's a reason the phrase 'infinite universes equals infinite possibilities' is a thing."

"Hmm, interesting." Lisa rubs her chin, "Even a dimension where dividing by 0 exists?"

"Yes, that's the home of the guardian entities." Linka answers, "Now can we drop this? Or do you want to watch a movie from the dimension where..."

"Don't care. Is there a dimension where..." Girl Lynn starts.

"The Last Airbender was actually good?" Linka cuts her off.

Lynn immediately grabs Linka, "Katara and Aang forever!"

* * *

"It has been a spirited competition tonight folks! All of our contestants have done their best to show off why they should be The Acting Team Supereme!"

The theatre's spotlights focus on the announcer, a young woman with auburn hair, light skin, and a golden dress. She continues, her voice becoming more excited, "But of course, all good things must come to an end eventually!"

The crowd sits on the edge of their seats as they lean forward, while on stage the twenty contestants- young girls of the ages of five to seven- stand by, their hands held together in a sign of solidarity, while their partners stand behind them, giving as much support as they can.

"And without further ado! The winner is… Lola, Linka and Lexx Loud!"

Immediately, the crowd bursts into resounding applause, while the three winners step forward to claim their prize- three crowns and a small trophy for putting on the best family performance at the event!

"We did it!" Lola cheers, before grabbing her crown and securing it on her head.

"Yeah! Suck it sweetwater!" Lexx adds, pointing at the young girl standing off to the side, with her two sisters holding their arms on their hips in annoyance.

No doubt, if this was not the end of the story, they would be coming back for revenge.

"So what's next Lola?" Linka runs her hand through the, now seven-year-old, girl's hair.

Lola rubs her chin for a moment, "Well, we could always enter that sister pageant comin' up. I hear the grand prize is a trip to Dairy Land!"

Linka's eyes light up in excitement, "Dairy Land?! I'm so in!" And with that, the trio gets off the stage and joins their nearby friends and families; their numerous relatives embracing them with open arms.

 _"Heh, who knew joining in Lola and Lexx's pageants could actually be this fun?!"_ Linka smiles, taking her new crown in hand, _"I guess you really shouldn't knock it 'till ya try it."_

* * *

After a hard day at school, Leif, Lana and Linka stand in the backyard. During integration, Linka had decided to keep the ARC System, resulting in the boy now holding his cards in front of the girl, explaining just what they do.

"Ok… I think I understand." Lana tilts her head in confusion, "But uhh, why would you ride around like that?"

"Because it's fun Lana." Linka immediately answers, rubbing Leif's back as she does so, "After all, what's more risky than jumping on a fast-moving bird who's attack is to engulf itself in flames and charge at the opponent.

Lana rubs her chin for a moment, "Hmm, that does sound interesting."

"Trust me Lana, it is." Linka then squats down to her height, "And that's not to mention the card games on motorcycles."

"Linka, ya sure being a god for all of ten minutes didn't mess with your head?" The older twin's voice fills with concern for a moment, though Linka motioning for her to calm down is more than enough to put her at ease.

"Trust me, I know it sounds crazy, and trust me, I thought it was crazy when it happened to me." Linka rubs the back of her head and looks away awkwardly, "But, this game is really fun and I think you should at least try it before ya say ya think it's stupid."

Lana rubs her chin for a moment, _"Well… I guess it couldn't hurt."_ She shrugs, "All right Linka, so where do we start?"

"With the rules." Linka pulls out a small packet of papers.

 _"What did I just get myself into?"_ Lana frantically thinks.

 ** _A Few Minutes Later…_**

"Got that Lana?" Linka finishes, before closing the packet of paper.

"Uhh… I think so…" Lana's voice awkwardly trails off.

"Yeah… I know the feeling. It's easier to learn as you go." Leif rubs the back of his head, "Wanna learn how to fly my giant robot falcon?"

"That's not an actual thing is it?" Lana asks, expecting nothing but disappointment. "I mean, you act as if you're actually gonna make a giant robot bird and fly him around like a real jet-plane."

"Well, it's not really real." The boy pulls out a small, black card. "But using one of Levi's inventions..."

Lana's eyes light up, and a few minutes later, they're riding along, with Leif riding his bike and Lana trying to ride Rise falcon.

"Haha! Ok Lana, I need you to shift your weight! It's like surfing, but in the air!"

"All right!" She shifts her weight, allowing her to keep balance on the bird.

"Great job Lana!" Linka shouts, while she rides along on Shining Hope Pendulum Dragon.

"Heh, race ya guys!" Lana shouts, before boosting away on the bird.

"You're on!" Linka counters, before patting the dragon, prompting it to rush forward as well.

"Hey! Don't leave me behind!" Leif revs his bike, prompting it to boost forward as well.

* * *

"So what should we call this beauty?" Lars holds up a stack of papers, over One Thousand pages thick, "It's the longest thing I've ever written and is made up of a collection of stories from your time in Dimension sixty-three, Linka."

Lucy then appears by the Boy Goth's side, "Also, since the story has to deal with going home after making a mistake, I believe the title should have something to do with that."

Linka thinks for a moment, rubbing her chin as she does so, "Well this is a tough one… how about 'Stories And Tales From Dimension 63'?"

The two Goths look at each other for a moment, before shaking their heads in disagreement.

"I'm sorry Linka, but while I agree that that rolls off the tongue and is pretty memorable, I think it's already copyrighted." Lucy shakes her head in disappointment.

"Dangit…" Linka rubs her chin again.

"How about 'A Loud House Story: The Dimensional Odyssey'." Lars speaks up, his voice filling with excitement.

"Ya know what, that actually sounds pretty good!" Linka's voice fills with excitement.

"I agree brother." Lucy smiles, "Now, where were we?"

"The ending." Linka answers, her voice flattening. "You wanted to take a break so we wouldn't be so tired when we came up with it."

Lars awkwardly holds up the pile and rubs the back of his head, "Oh, uhh… how about we just end on some random stories, each following one of our counterpart pairs?"

Lucy shrugs, "I think that works out, it'll show change and act as a nice contrast to chapter one."

"Hmm, well, we have to end it on something big, ya know." Linka rubs her chin, "But what?"

Suddenly, an idea comes to the trio, and without saying another word, they get to work finishing the ending.

* * *

 **"Wow, what movement!" the announcer shouts, "Lynn Loud is dodging the competition like it's nothing! And with the most elegant manners possible!"**

"Go Lynn! You're almost there!" Linka shouts, her voice filling with excitement. Her heart races as she watches Lynn rush passed young men twice her size, on her way to deliver her package: one pigskin ball to the end zone just ninety yards away.

"Like, come on Lynn! Bring 'er home!" Loni shouts flaring his arms as he does so. Leni on the other hand, holds up the small dress she had been working on, "Plus! If you win, I'll give you this new dress!"

"Ooo, is that cotton?" Loni leans over and begins to fumble with the fabric.

"Lynn, make sure you give that **quarter back**!" Luan cheers as she watches her younger sister duck under the Hazeltuckey quarterback and throw him back, much to the incoming hawker's dismay.

Lane immediately adds, "You really managed to duck that one!" before joining his female counterpart's laughter.

"Poo-poo!" Lily cheers, while flailing her small arms in excitement, "Gow Lwnn!"

Leon then jumps to his feet, "Ywou cwan do it!"

Then, the young girl in red football gear charges at one of the few remaining defenders, only to easily sidestep the poor man, causing him to get tackled by his teammates.

Luan falls back in laughter, "Haha! Lynn! You've gotta skin those pigs!"

Luna then adds, "Yeah sis! You should've told them to 'Stay Home'!" Then, she strums her electric guitar harder, playing a fast-paced song to heighten the mood. Immediately, Nyla and Luke start strumming as well, creating a excitign atmosphere for the game.

"Ten yards." Lana sits at the edge of her seat as she watches Lynn duck, dodge, push and shove more oncoming defenders.

Lynn meanwhile remains calm, though she can't help but think, _"Good thing other me trained me, or else I doubt I'd be able to get passed these guys!"_ Then, before she knows it.

 **"Touchdown! Lynn Loud Jr. has just helped the Royal Woods Roosters win the Championship!"**

"You did it Lynn!" The young woman is immediately crowded by her cheering team, while her family cant help but join in the mess.

"Heh I guess those lessons with ya really paid off." Linka quips, before turning to Boy Lynn.

Boy Lynn simply crosses his arms and smiles, "They did. And now's time for her to start trainin' me in her sports."

Linka pats the boy's back, "Good luck with that, you'll need it." She then throws her head back in laughter, "Your girl counterpart doesn't give up when it comes to sports and she's gonna make sure you're gonna have to catch up to her!"

Yet, rather then step back in fear, a fierce determination overtakes Boy Lynn, "Challenge accepted."

* * *

March thirty-first, in the Loud House, this date is known as zero-day: the last chance everyone has before Luan and Lane release the prankpocalypse upon their home.

Yet, while the girls are preparing to survive, boys stand in the middle of the halls, each preparing for the war to come.

"What are you guys doing?!" Lori frantically runs up to Loki, "Aren't you gonna set up your saferooms?!"

Loki raises an eyebrow, "Hide? Hiding doesn't get it out of Lane's system. Besides, one of the first things I learned in military school was that hiding away should only be used a last resort… and even then, you prepare to fight because you can only hide for a short while."

"But literally everything Luan does could destroy the house!" Lori flares her arms in confusion and fear, prompting the rest of the girls to come to her side and join in her fearful stammering.

"Well, like…" Loni cuts in. "Have you tried fighting back?"

"Fighting back… Fighting back. Fight back.'

The words echoed loudly through them, as the light of understanding that had long been suppressed by their own fear, dawned on them at last.

The girls all begin to grin in a manner similar to that of their prank-loving sister, before they speak just two words in unison.

"Fight back."

 ** _The Next Day…_**

Luan and Lane burst through their room door with slingshots loaded with dirty diapers... only to find her sisters, brothers and parents all aiming everything from pies to paint-filled super soakers at her.

Boy Lynn aims his weapon, "Prankpocalypse is over sis."

Lisa then tugs at her bandana and aims her dual cannons as well, "Now is the time for war."

Lane grins in excitement, and turns towards his female counterpart, "You ready for this Luan?!"

Suddenly, Luan's heart begins to race. The weak rush she was used to on this day was no more, replaced by a stream of adrenaline coursing through her veins. _"Is this… the excitement I was looking for?!"_ She raises her pranking weapons. "I'm ready."

And with that, they jump into the crowd, causing everyone to break up to begin the prank war.

"This is gonna be the best April Fool's Day Ever!" Luan and Lane shout in unison, but beginning the hunt, though now with twice the amount of players and even more pranks to go around!

* * *

A few days after that, the band Me, Myself and I with their guest singer Linka stands in the Loud House garage, ready to practice just what they're gonna sing at their next concert.

"You ready for this guys?" Linka nervously asks, "I mean, this is the first time we're playin' this song…"

"Hey, don't worry about it." Luke lovingly rubs his sister's head, "That's why we're practicin'." He then looks the young girl in the eyes, "You ready Link?"

The young woman takes a deep breath, "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Heh, well then, let's jam!" Nyla pulls out her acoustic guitar and begins to strum.

"You got it!" Luna strums as well, "Let's make some noise love!"

"Remember, this song is soft, not hard though!" Luke laughs, before joining in.

"You, you're gonna break my heart, you're gonna tear it apart." Linka begins to sing, her voice filling with hope, "No matter what you do, I'll still be there for you." And when you call my name, I won't be far away.

She pauses for a moment, before smiling, her thoughts beginning to move towards her family, "No matter where you go, you'll never be alone, be alone, be alone; no you'll never be alone, be alone, be alone. Yeah, you'll never be alone, be alone, be alone; mo you'll never be alone, be alone, be alone; no you'll never be alone, be alone… No matter what you do. I'll still be there for you."

And with that, she finishes, a smile beginning to form on her face.

"Heh, great job Linka, now time for take two!" Luke declares, and with that, they get back to their jam session.

* * *

"Wow," Linka shouts as she shows off the dress Leni and Loni had made for her. "This dress... It's amazing!" The dress is rather simple for once, with a simple white top and bottom, outlined with light-blue trim. It has a small clock attached to the back, allowing the young girl to cover herself with it.

"You like it sis?" Loni smiles proudly, "It took us all week to get it done!"

"Like over a thousand tries too!" Leni adds, flaring her arms as she does so.

Linka nods, "It shows, and I definitely love it." She poses with it for a moment, before grabbing an over-sized tuning fork from Leni's bed, "But uhh guys, why'd you make this?"

Loni responds by handing Linka a Duel Monster's card, "Well, the anime we got most of our inspiration from ended a while ago, so I decided to use Harmonizing Magician as the basis for our next dress!"

 _"Heh, Harmonizing Magician, how fitting."_ Linka can't help but smile at the thought for a moment, before posing with the dress some more, "Ya know guys, if you entered this in the Royal Woods Dress Making Contest, I'm sure you'd get first place!"

"You really think so Linka?" Loni tilts his head in curiosity, while Leni knowingly smiles.

"Like, I totes think we'll win! We just gotta!" She then pulls out another dress, this one is pure white with golden trim and angel wings on the back to boot! "Plus, we always have this one!"

 _"Heh, you guys never change your style."_ Linka smiles, before taking the dress in her hands, "You two want me to try this on too?"

"Yep!" Loni nods, before turning to Leni, "Meanwhile, we'll test out more design ideas!"

"Like, that sounds awesome!" Leni adds, before turning and jumping back on the drawing board.

"Heh all right." Linka turns and steps behind a set of boards, changing into yet another dress as she does so.

* * *

It's yet another beautiful day over the town of Royal Woods. With most of the Louds out for the day, Lori, Loki and Linka sit at the base of the oak tree, simply relaxing in the cool shade.

"So you're plannin' on joining the military huh?" Lori asks, looking off into the wild blue yonder above as she does so.

Loki does so as well, simply imagining what life would be like once he finished his tours of duty and came home to his devoted girlfriend, "Yeah, I know it's a big commitment, but I've been preparing to take it."

"What do you mean?" the young woman turns to the young man, curiosity filling her voice.

"Simple really." Loki leans back comfortably against the tree, "Ever since that incident a few years ago, I promised myself I would become strong enough to protect everyone I loved from those that wanted to hurt them." He can't help, but smile, "After everything that's happened, well, I think things are just gonna be fine."

While Loki was talking about his future plans, Linka remains silent, _"What do I say? What can I say?"_ her body fills with worry: the fears that many families have when one of their own decides to join the military. The many, 'what ifs' that come along.

"Besides…" Loki turns to Linka with a soft, understanding smile, "I'll be leavin' the house in good hands."

Immediately, Linka's eyes go wide in shock, "Wait, what?!"

Loki leans forward and turns to the young woman, with Lori doing the same, "Look, Linka, I'm gonna be shipping out in a few months, once I start college, I'll enroll in an ROTC program and live on campus."

"And I'll be leaving for college too. Bobby and I are gonna be living together on campus remember?" Lori adds, her voice filling with an understanding pain.

Linka curls up into a ball, with her knees buried in her chest. "I didn't want to think about it."

"Heh, well, simply put, you're gonna have to." Loki chuckles, "It'll be happenin' soon." He turns and looks out once more.

His counterpart does the same. The trio sits in silence for a moment, before Loki turns to the young girl once more, "Linka…"

"Yeah?"

"After we all go… ya know, Luna and Luke and Lori and I, we want you to keep things in order." The young man continues, his voice filling with hope.

"You… you sure?" She looks up, "Shouldn't Luan and Lane or Leni and Loni or even the Lynn's the go first?"

"Heh, they understand already." Lori goes, "We all want you."

"Oh…" Linka looks down in fear.

"Don't worry Linka. Everything's gonna be fine." Loki continues, "You can do it."

Lori nods as well, "After all Lincoln, you did a good job getting everyone together."

Linka sighs, "All right guys, I'll do my best… let's just enjoy this for now please."

"All right." The two older siblings go, before they simply relax and look up into the wild blue yonder once more.

* * *

"These games are pretty cool!" Cristina declares as the five friends go along, playing in the arcade. "So, how about we begin?"

Claudia and Clyde play against their partners, excitement filling the air.

And Linka can't help but smile at how lucky she is. "So guys, how's livin' with your counterparts goin?" before she joins in on the game.

"Oh, it's pretty cool." Claudia quickly moves her character over Linka's before using it to attack Cristopher's, "I mean it's strange having two moms and two dads, but hey, I guess it all works out."

"Yeah, plus, at least we both got our own rooms, I don't know how I would've dealt with sharing a room with a girl version of me." Clyde then follows up Claudia's attack with his own, knocking Cristina's out of the ring.

Linka can't help, but smile at the idea, _"Yeah, it was hard making sure I could keep my friends around, but hey, I guess everything all worked out in the end."_ She then turns towards her other friends, "What about you two?"

"We're still datin' ya know." Cristopher chuckles, "Plus, my computer still works!" He then dive at Linka's character, causing them to fly out of the arena, though Linka quickly jumps back into the field.

"And I guess dating Clyde is workin' out too." Cristina finishes, before rejoining the fight.

Linka smiles, _"My friends are happy, that's great."_ She then taps away at the controls, "Well, now it's time to finish this!" She quickly hits all the control she can, "Finishing move!"

Her friends eyes go wide in shock, as Linka's character jumps up and engulfs itself in flame, "Ultimate Blast Burn!"

And with that, the game ends, causing the friend to simply laugh in amusement.

"Ready for round two?" Linka smiles. And everyone else nods, before returning to the game.

* * *

"So, what do ya guys think?" Linka nervously asks as she leads Ronnie Anne and Ron Andy into Jean-Juan's French Mex Buffet.

"Linka… you know why we're here right?" Ronnie Anne asks, her voice filling with annoyance.

The white-haired girl takes a deep breath, "Right… I know…" She sighs, "It's just, this is gonna be hard to do."

Ron Andy shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs, "Just take this nice and calm. If you want, you can back out now."

Yet, Linka simply shakes her head, "No you guys, you deserve to know who I wanna stay with." She then takes another deep breath, "Just promise me that neither of you will overreact ok?"

The two look at each other for a moment and shrug.

"All right Lame-O." Ronnie Anne playfully punches her arm, "Just promise me that no matter what happens, we'll still be friends."

"Same." Ron Andy goes, before nodding. "Well, let's get a move on."

"Right." Linka then turns to the waiter, "Table for three please."

"Right this way." The waiter, a young man with black hair and in a white shirt, goes, before grabbing three menus and walking along.

A few minutes later, and the trio is sitting at their table, ready for whatever Linka is about to say.

"All right… after dating both of you for six months, I've decided… well…" She looks at Ron, the Ronnie, before looking down, "I really love you both… and it hurts me to tell you this." She turns to her girlfriend, "Ronnie Anne… I choose Ron."

For a moment, a shocked air fills the room, though none but the three young adults can feel it.

Ron Andy looks on for a moment, _"If what Linka told me about Ronnie Anne is true… she's about to go crazy on us!"_

Yet, unlike what she would typically do, Ronnie Anne simply smiles and nods, "Don't worry Lame-O, I understand."

"You do?" Linka's eyes go wide in surprise.

Ronnie Anne nods, "Yeah, after the reset and you were still a girl, well, I knew you'd end up choosing Ron." She shoves her hands in her pockets, _"Though… it still hurts just a bit."_

"Can we still be friends?" The white-haired girl nervously asks.

"Of course Lame-O, of course." Ronnie Anne then playfully punches Linka's arm once more, "Now, where's the food, I'm hungry!"

"I love you guys!" Linka throws her arms around the two, with both of them looking away and going red in embarrassment, though deep down, they both appreciate the gesture."

"Le Beouf Avec Queso!" A waiter arrives with the trio's meals in tow.

"Heh, now let's dig in!" Ronnie Anne goes, before the three dig into their meals.

* * *

 ** _One Year Later…_**

A soft air fills the crowded hospital waiting room, while a lone man paces the floor, a nervous sweat slowly making its way down his face.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Linka asks, tilting her head as she does so.

C-137 Lynn sr. holds his arms behind his back while continuing to nervously pace.

"Yeah, mom's been through this before!" Lori types away on her phone, no doubt to tell Bobby just what's goin' on, "More times than any of us would be comfortable about."

"Yeah, I know." The man speaks with a worried tone, "It's just… I'm just worried that things aren't gonna be safe for a baby anymore…"

It had come as no surprise to any member of the family when they found out that their mother was expecting again. Given the size of either side of the family it had always been something they all waited for.

"Why do you say that?" 63 Lynn Sr. responds, "After all, we've been living together for a while now. I'm sure we'll all be able to raise another Loud."

The man looks at his family for a moment, before resuming his fearful pacing, "It's just… we've had a chaotic time together! I mean, living with us is already crazy, but don't you think it's dangerous for a baby to live there?!"

"Dad, if I've learned anything from my time living with both families, it's that you can't have the good without the bad, I mean come on!" Linka throws her head back in laughter, "At this point, there's nothing I can really say besides, everything's gonna be all right."

"Besides, what's worryin' you so much?" Loki can't help but chuckle at the man's fears. "Again, you've been through this multiple times, and so has mom!"

"It's just, I'm afraid that with another child around, everything that's already chaotic is gonna become more so!" His voice fills with an uncharacteristic fear.

"Come on, when we're around nothing gets that bad!" Luna responds, waving the man off as she does so.

"Hey, do you think they're gonna be a boy or a girl?" Leni speaks up, her voice filling with her typical excitement.

Linka simply smiles on, though she can't help but think, " _Though, if Ethioth wants to screw me over again, well… He knows what to make the baby."_

"Well I hope it's a girl!" Lola speaks up, placing a hand on Lexx's hand as she does so, causing the young boy to blush, "That way we'll have even more crazy stuff to do with her!"

"Heh, well no matter what happens, we'll take them in." Linka smiles, after all, they'll be as loud as us all! Haha!"

Lucy smiles, "This will make great inspiration for my next work."

Boy Lynn leans over, "This? Lucy, do you think havin' a baby bro is a bad thing?"

Lucy continues, "No, but spending all that money on stuff for a baby girl is."

Girls all nod in unison, "Ohh… dangit."

Lucy then holds up a small slip of paper, "I'll call it 'Destitute'."

"Yup. Cant even hand me down Lily's old stuff either, for the same reason I had to trash your stuff a while ago…" Linka rubs the back of her head.

Luna's eyes go wide, "You did what!?"

"Luna, we both know it would have cost more to get the guitar you gave me fixed than to just get a new one. If it meant that much to you, you would have got it fixed than getting a more expensive one." Linka shakes her head.

Girl Lynn then sighs, "Hand-me-downs suck… though sometimes they're good, but modifying a girl's bike to fit a boy is a lot more annoying than the other way around."

A few feet away, Loni can't help but hold up a small shirt, "But why?!"

"Loni, honey. You can't give your new sibling hand me down clothes." 63 Rita goes.

A few minutes later and a nurse walks into the waiting room, "Mr. Loud?"

The C-137 Lynn stops his frantic pacing for a moment, and turns to the source, "Yes?"

"I would like to have a word with you, if you don't mind." She continues, motioning for him to come over as she does so.

Wordlessly, the worried man steps over, "How's she doing?"

The nurse then speaks to him for a few, short moments, before motioning towards the room she's resting in. "All right, thank you." C-137 Lynn Sr. goes, before turning around, "Lincoln!"

"Yeah?" Linka perks up, "What is it?"

"I need your help getting something for your mother, I know how good you are with these things." The man continues, before motioning for her to follow.

Linka immediately shrugs, and hops to her feet, "All right dad." And with that, they step out of the room and begin to walk.

"So uhh, where are we goin'?" Linka nervously asks as they step through the winding hospital halls, up and down seemingly random flights of stairs and through random channels.

"A surprise Lincoln, for you." The man then pushes a set of doors open, revealing the maternity ward they were just in, "Now be quiet, you don't want everyone else coming in now, don't ya?" He then steps forward, "Come on."

 _"This… can't be…"_ Linka's heart races as she steps into the room doorway and allows her allows to fall upon the small bundle in her mother's arms.

 ** _Later…._**

There is a faint sound of "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" from a nurse before the room doors swing open, followed by the random confused sounds of the Loud Children trying to figure out exactly what's going on.

They enter the room and waste no time moving over to their mother's bed… Only to stop in their tracks when their eyes fall upon their former brother sitting at the woman's feet.

He faces away from them, while he plays tug-o'-war with the tiny fist wrapped around her finger

"Hey, why's Lincoln already here?!" Lola is the first to complain, her voice grating against the warm air.

"Sorry, girls, but I thought it's only fair that Lincoln gets to hold the baby first," Lynn C-137 answers with a shrug, before turning towards his son-turned-daughter, after all-"

"That's not fair!" Girl Lynn flares her arms in annoyance, "Why did she get to see our new little sis first?!

"Heh, says the athlete who's typically so bent on winning, she doesn't care if she plays fair or not." Boy Lynn counters.

C-137 Lynn Sr. can't help, but hold in a laugh at his daughters outburst, much to his children and counter's confusion. Though, they realize why once they turn the corner.

Lori's eyes widen with that, and suddenly she is six again, sitting in the exact same spot. Playing the exact same game with the exact same finger. Her little sisters are gathered around her as the little white haired miracle in her arms grip her finger as hard as he could.

Linka looks up and smiles at the collectively stunned crowd of Louds. The albino, and it takes Lori a moment to realize that that wasn't part of the hallucination, is Lincoln's spitting image.

The tiny bundle in her arms coos up at his silver-haired big sis... and those old enough can't help but feel Déjà vu. Even Loni and Leni, who have to substitute a few words in their heads, feel it."

"A brother… I actually have a baby brother." Both Linka and the young Lori say in soft joy and quiet wonder… while the present Lori repeats those words, rather openly.

The boys growl and cough, prompting Lori to answer, "Oh, you know what I mean."

Up next, Lori lifts Leon and Lily to show them their new brother. "Here you go, guys, now you're the older siblings to this little cutie."

Leon smiles and goes, "Pway! We'll be bwest bwos!"

While Lily can't help but tilt her head and go, "Wincoln?"

"No Lily, it's not Lincoln." Loki speaks with a fatherly tone, "It's your new brother."

The two previously youngest children look on for a moment, before turning to each other and smiling. The young baby follows up by doing the same, "Goo!"

"Hwe sounds pwetty!" Lily flails her arms in excitement. "I'll be the bwest sister ever!"

"Yweah! I thwink we'll have lots of fwun!" Leon adds, leaning in closely as he does so.

"Well, I guess I'm gonna be a big brother now," Linka remarks, only to quickly correct herself. "Or big sister, all things considered."

"But still, why did our middle brother need to see him first?" Lisa asks, adjusting her glasses as she does so, "I do not understand."

"Girls, guys, listen up," C-137 Rita tiredly speaks up, catching her children's attention. "The whole mess started because Lincoln wanted a brother, somebody he could spend time with and not feel so lonely with. He could spend time with you too, girls, but you don't share the same interests he does, or even any interest in them."

The girls fall silent, agreeing with the notion.

"But what about us?!" Loki quietly snaps as to not startle the newborn. "We're her... His... Lincoln's brothers now, isn't that enough?!"

"You being his brothers is a recent development," C-137 Lynn Sr. walks over and places a hand on Linka's shoulder. "Until then, Lincoln had no brothers to go to, to spend time with or even to learn from. Besides, Rita and I did agree that if we got a boy, then it was only fair that Lincoln would get to hold him."

For a moment, Loki considers pushing the issue further, yet relents once the rest of the boy step passed him to catch a glimpse of the newest addition to the Loud Family.

"I guess after all this time, I ended up getting what I wanted," Lincoln whispers. "I just had to go through quite the adventure and all the hardships to get it."

"That's the most important lesson life teaches us, dude," Luke strums his guitar, while coming to Linka's right side. "And remember: One of the boys."

"One of the girls." Luna adds, while coming up on the other.

And within moments, Linka is surrounded by his massive family, who hug him as he says with them in unison:

"One of the louds."

* * *

 _"Oh how, the gentle winds, beckon through the leaves, as autumn, colors, fall. Dancing in swirl, of golden memories. The loveliest… truths, of all. The most beautiful truths and happiest loves, of all…"_

Thank you, everyone who has followed my tale, and may you all have a brilliant and wondrous adventure. My name is Ethioth, Guardian of Fate and narrator of this story, and with this, I take my bow. I wish you the best.

 ** _The Stinger Segment:_**

In the deepest part of the prison of the AEU's Citadel sits a familiar Linka Loud, wearing an orange prison outfit, and with the neck brace still secured around her neck and still male.

Just then a familiar face steps into the cell block. The young woman's silver hair glows in the darkly lit room. Quickly they walk over to a young woman, waiting at the gate. "Nyla."

"Before you say anything, let me remind you that there are people in this prison who've done less than what she did," Nyla shakes her head in disappointment, "She could cure all disease and bring about world peace and that collar still wouldn't come off in her lifetime. You think it's gonna come off just because she "learned her lesson?"

"I'm not here to take her back," Linka shakes her head, "I'm just here to give her a piece of my mind."

"All right then." Nyla steps back, "Be careful."

"I will be." Linka goes, before walking over to the bars holding Lincoln captive, "I didn't want to be the one to tear you a new one, Linka, but nobody else wants to see you. So, stay quiet, and listen."

The girl remains silent.

"After everything you done, I'm not surprised." Linka shakes her head, "You abandoned them-"

Only for Lincoln to answer, "Because they suffocated me, and attacked me with attention to the point I started believing that I was the center of the world, and because they were too cowardly to tell dad otherwise."

"You haven't changed at all Linka." Linka shakes her head, "It wasn't their job to tell dad to stop. It was yours and you still choose not to no matter how bad you think it got!"

Lincoln remains silent no doubt doing his best to ignore the girl's accusations.

"You ruined almost ruined my life. You tried to abandon the girls when they found out the truth. Heck, you even tried to **kill** me! You helped almost destroy the multiverse for entirely selfish reasons-"

"Refer to my previous points." Lincoln cuts her off, "Those are the only reasons why this whole mess happened."

Linka can feel her anger building as she continues, "You didn't regret doing that until you found out you wouldn't be part of the 'perfect world', you made us waste our lives taking care of you rather than take five minutes to tell us to stop. Nyla has a literal laundry list of legal crap that printed off as fat as a phonebook listing everything you've done wrong-"

"You done yet?" He scoffs, "I don't care."

For a moment, Linka considers going off on her once more, calling her out on the destructive behavior that had caused all this. Yet, instead, she simply stands up and turns around, "Goodbye Linka. And never come home." Before she walks away

Once her counterpart is gone, Lincoln looks back at the ground, only to get another visitor. It's Lily's counterpart, Lyle.

"You?" Linka checks out the counterpart. "Wow, I'm so used to seeing you as a baby, it's kinda weird to see you with boobs."

"I heard what happened," Lyle states, ignoring the little remark.

Lincoln raises an eyebrow. "So?"

"When the whole deal was over, I investigated a little bit more about your family, and found out a lot of them have done morally questionable things as well," Lyle explains. "Sure, you're the worst of the bunch, but your family has a couple rotten apples as well."

"Good to know you're not color blind," Lincoln quips.

Lyle raises her eyebrow in return. "What do you mean?"

"You don't see things in black and white," Lincoln explains, only to turn to look at you, the reader, as she adds, "Like certain other people do. Yes, I actually know you're there. Are you surprised? I'm a Lincoln after all, it's only fair that I can see you too."

Then the imprisoned boy turns back to the hunter. "Anyway, what do you want?"

"I've come to offer you a second chance," Lyle answers.

Lincoln bursts out laughing. "Get real!"

"I am!" Lyle remains calm, though her voice fills with a commanding strength, bringing the girl's laughter to a halt. "You were an anomaly for quite a while and almost destroyed the universe, causing a lot of destruction and ruin along the way."

"Yeah, so?" Lincoln's scoffs.

"Wanna help clean up the multiverse?" the offer is presented, and Lincoln's smug smile turns into a frown. "After you finished your time at the military academy, a group of hunters immediately arrested you." She then holds up her Holo-Gear, "I believe you've had your punishment. Now it's time for your redemption."

It's not long before Lincoln chuckles and laughs once again, "You do know the story is basically over, right?" she points out, confusing the hunter. "What I answer will mean absolutely nothing, so I might as well keep my mouth shut."

"I came here to help you to clean up your mess. The offer will stand." She leans back against the wall, "You're gonna give me an answer eventually, and I'm not leaving until I get it!"

Lincoln just scoffs, "Heh, well then if that's the case, then I hope you're ready to wait for a long time."

Lyle narrows her eyes. "How long are we talking about?"

The young boy flashes a sadistic smile. "Forever."

 ** _The End? Yes, most likely this is the true end._**

12-9-6-5 9-19 19-20-18-1-14-7-5 1-14-4 2-5-1-21-20-9-6-21-12 1-20 20-8-5 19-1-13-5 20-9-13-5. 20-8-5-18-5 1-18-5 19-15 13-1-14-25 23-15-14-4-5-18-19 20-8-1-20 8-1-22-5 2-5 19-5-5-14 1-14-4 19-15 13-1-14-25 25-5-20 20-15 2-5 6-15-21-14-4. 9 23-9-19-8 25-15-21 1-12-12 20-8-5 2-5-19-20 1-14-4 9 21-18-7-5 25-15-21 20-15 2-5 3-21-18-9-15-21-19 1-14-4 20-15 11-5-5-16 13-15-22-9-14-7 6-15-18-23-1-18-4, 2-21-20 20-15 14-5-22-5-18 6-15-18-7-5-20 1-2-15-21-20 23-8-5-18-5 25-15-21 3-1-13-5 6-18-15-13. 20-8-1-14-11 25-15-21 1-12-12!

 **A/N And with that, Stories And Tales From Dimension 63 is complete! If I had to describe this story, well, to quote one of my reviewers, "Fun, but flawed." and I have to agree. I loved to write this story, even though it did have its faults! I haven't been responding to reviews like I usually do because I want to just give all of the final answers at the same time. Also, no, no Anyways, so many people to thank and so little time. Let's start!**

 **Music used:**

 **TheFatRat and Tasty Records: "Never Be Alone" Link: (Youtube) Ic-gZlPFTkQ**

 **Patrick McHale: "Into The Unknown" Link: (Youtube) 5llaSW0Bxy4 (Used as quotes)**

 **I thank my Beta-Readers/Editors as well as my support network: Exotos135, Insane Master Writer Studio, Wolvenstrom, and Sunblast-X. Without you guys, I definitely wouldn't have been able to write to the quality I strived for with this story! And you guys gave me the ideas I needed to get as far as I did!**

 **I thank everyone who has followed, faved and reviewed this story and continues to give their support, you guys are one of the reasons why I continued this story even when I was feelin' down and thought that this wasn't worth the effort! Thanks for taking the time out of your days to brighten mine!**

 **Thanks also goes out to those who maintained this story's TVTropes page! I appreciate the time you took out of your days to analyze and add tropes onto each story page and analyze my work, heck, you guys noticed things that I didn't even think I was writing!**

 **Lastly, I thank everyone who's read my work. I live by a motto: "No pain, no regret, no remorse and no shame." Which, in layman's terms means: Do your best no matter what. And I can safely say, I did my best with this fic. Thank you all!**

 **Now, since I've got your attention, time for some trivia! (First time I'm doin' this segment, mainly cause the story's so long, it's bound to have a ton of facts!)**

 **1) This is the longest story I have ever written. (Over 320 Thousand words and over 1 thousand pages!).**

 **2) This is (Really was) the longest story in the Loud House Archive. (It lost the title last week when the current titleholder updated).**

 **3) This was my first story to ever break 100 reviews. (Followed up by the story I had expected to reach that number a few months later).**

 **4) This was my first story to ever be updated on a regular basis. (Every week, on Sunday [Saturday for chapters 13-16])**

 **5) This was the first story I wrote to have some forward planning made on it.**

 **6) And this is the first story I have that was properly featured on other websites and in communities, as well as to have art made for it! (Credit goes to Chaoticson!)**

 **7) Funnily enough, Linka wasn't supposed to be a character in the story, and was meant to be in a coma. People suggested otherwise though, and well, it stuck. I'll admit, I rather enjoy her as an antagonist.**

 **8) Loki is into military stuff because I went to a semi-military school myself and was captain of the rifle drill team.**

 **9) This story was only supposed to be 20 chapters long. Welp according to that 40, I more than doubled that.**

 **10) The original concept of the story involved Lincoln and Ronnie Anne collecting the fragments for The Shadowman (William Cryptos) in order to save their families. From what was in debate when I started this story.**

 **11) Originally, the stories were supposed to have Lincoln finding the parts to a device capable of bringing him home. Instead, the fragments were used in order to streamline ideas. Also, most of the stories would've been caused by Lincoln's search, look at chapter 3 for what i mean.**

 **12) Numerous TV shows and animes inspired me to write this. Most notably Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty. (Also, a lot of William's personality and some of his dialogue was inspired by/came from Call of Duty: Black Ops 3- Zombies)**

 **13) The Reason Ron Andy is named Ron Andy is because one of my friends/reviewers said the name and it stuck.**

 **14) Nell, Nyla, Lyle, and Aeif's names came from what my phone auto-corrected anagrams of their canon names into.**

 **15) Lastly, this was supposed to be a one-shot collection. In fact, the reason I chose the title is because this was supposed to be a Story with some accompanying tales from dimension 63**

 **How was this written? Every Wednesday, I would write a 2-3k word draft chapter, and on Saturday/Sunday I would write the full story chapter from that draft. (As in, write the whole thing from scratch, using the draft as a guide).**

 **Why was this the case? Simple. Due to the way I had set up my schedule, I had my Wednesday free, so that was the obvious day to write on.**

 **Why was this updated on Sundays? Again, schedule. Do to the way I did my work, I would have to spend Saturday doing my college stuff, while also attending my classes to be a Pharmacy Technician. By the end of it, I would have to spend Saturday Night and Sunday Morning writing!**

 **Stats:**

 **Views (As of the posting of this chapter): 70,255.**

 **Total words: 326,102.**

 **Total Reviews: 388.**

 **Favorites: 131.**

 **Follows: 133.**

 **Chapter with most views: C1- 24,684.**

 **Chapter with fewest views: C33- 513.**

 **Chapter with most reviews: C1- 23.**

 **Chapter with fewest reviews: C10- 5.**

 **Longest Chapter: C35- 20,109 words.**

 **Shortest Chapter: C7- 4,850 words.**

 **I thank everyone who's supported and given me the chance to get this far! You guys are the best! I wish you all the best!**

 **My name is Omega Ultra and I take my bow. Until next time!**


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